Wiktionary
n. (context electrical engineering English) A relay used to control an electrical power circuit
Wikipedia
A contactor is an electrically controlled switch used for switching an electrical power circuit, similar to a relay except with higher current ratings. A contactor is controlled by a circuit which has a much lower power level than the switched circuit.
Contactors come in many forms with varying capacities and features. Unlike a circuit breaker, a contactor is not intended to interrupt a short circuit current. Contactors range from those having a breaking current of several amperes to thousands of amperes and 24 V DC to many kilovolts. The physical size of contactors ranges from a device small enough to pick up with one hand, to large devices approximately a meter on a side.
Contactors are used to control electric motors, lighting, heating, capacitor banks, thermal evaporators, and other electrical loads.
Usage examples of "contactor".
He glanced around the area, watching the contactors as they struggled with their machines.
But I never thought that contactor Mom was building in the garage was going to get.
Unknown to the Georgia Group, a contactee in Italy, Eugenio Siragusa, has been in touch with the space people for years and his contactor always signs off with, "May the light of the universal peace be with you .
She's the contactor, the shining example of purity and sweetness and light - in short, the spreader of good old oil.
Norris, cursing in a low, deadly monotone, was working with quick, sure fingers on the other end of Barclay’s cable, splicing in a contactor in one of the power leads.
Lotsa relays and contactors and transformers have burned up because of the damn fire ants.
The instant the stun gun was activated, the cartridge would fire off the contactors, two fine conducting wires ending in quarter-inch needle points.