What is "adapter"

Adopter \A*dopt"er\, n.

1. One who adopts.

2. (Chem.) A receiver, with two necks, opposite to each other, one of which admits the neck of a retort, and the other is joined to another receiver. It is used in distillations, to give more space to elastic vapors, to increase the length of the neck of a retort, or to unite two vessels whose openings have different diameters.

1801, agent noun from adapt. Electrical engineering sense from 1907.

n. 1 One who is capable of adapting well to differing situations. 2 One who adapts a thing, e.g. a play. 3 A device or application used to achieve operative compatibility between devices that otherwise are incompatible. 4 # Specifically, a device that permits two, three, or more plugs to be used at a single electrical power point. 5 # Specifically, a device that allows one format of plug to be used with a different format of socket. 6 # Specifically, an AC-adaptor: a device that reduces voltage and converts AC to DC to allow a battery-powered device to use mains power.

1. n. a musician who adapts a composition for particular voices or instruments or for another style of performance [syn: arranger, transcriber]

2. device that enables something to be used in a way different from that for which it was intended or makes different pieces of apparatus compatible [syn: adaptor]

An adapter or adaptor is a device that converts attributes of one electrical device or system to those of an otherwise incompatible device or system. Some modify power or signal attributes, while others merely adapt the physical form of one electrical connector to another.

An electric power adapter may enable connection of a power plug, sometimes called «travel plug», used in one region to a AC power socket used in another, by offering connections for the disparate contact arrangements, while not changing the voltage. An AC adapter, also called a "recharger", is a small power supply that changes household electric current from distribution voltage (in the range 100 to 240 volts AC) to low voltage DC suitable for consumer electronics.

For computers and related items, one kind of serial port adapter enables connections between 25-contact and nine-contact connectors, but does not affect electrical power- and signalling-related attributes.

An adapter in genetic engineering is a short, chemically synthesized, double stranded DNA molecule which is used to link the ends of two other DNA molecules. It may be used to add sticky ends to cDNA allowing it to be ligated into the plasmid much more efficiently. Adapters are synthesized such that they have sticky end at one end and blunt end at the other. Two adapters could base pair to each other to form dimers. Adapters are used to link the ends of two DNA molecules that have different sequences at their ends. A conversion adapter is used to join a DNA insert cut with one Restriction enzyme, say EcoRl, with a vector opened with another enzyme, Bam Hl. This adapter can be used to convert the cohesive end produced by Bam Hl to one produced by Eco Rl or vice versa. One of its application is ligating cDNA into a plasmid or other vectors instead of using Terminal deoxynucleotide Transferase enzyme to add poly A to the cDNA fragment.

In rocketry, an adapter is a hollow cylindrical or conical segment between rocket stages or between the top rocket stage and the shroud that houses a spacecraft. They transfer the thrust from the lowest stage and are discarded during staging. This usage, which may appear over-elaborate in that such adapters are inert structural elements rather than dynamic converters of signals or electrical power, actually derives from French.

Category:Rocketry

Adapter may refer to:

• Adapter (device), used to match the physical or electrical characteristics of two different objects
• AC adapter, an electric power supply device
• Adapter (genetics), a small DNA molecule used in genetic engineering
• Adapter (rocketry), a segment between rocket stages
• Adapter (computing), used to connect various hardware devices
• Adapter (piping), a short length of pipe with two different ends, see coupling (piping)
• Adapter pattern, a software design pattern used for computer programming
• Signal transducing adaptor protein, a type of protein involved in cell signalling

In computing, adapter is a hardware device or software component that converts transmitted data from one presentation form to another. The data presentation can be, for example, a message sent between objects in an application or a packet sent through a network.

In modern personal computer, almost every peripheral device uses an adapter to communicate with system bus, for example:

• Display adapter used to transmit signal to monitor.
• Universal Serial Bus (USB) adapters for printers, keyboards and mice, among others.
• Network adapter required to attach to any network.
• Host bus adapter to connect hard disks or other storage.

A concept of adapter should not be confused with an expansion card. Although every expansion card typically implements some kind of adapter, many other adapters in a modern PC are built into the motherboard itself.

A software component adapter is a type of software that is logically located between two software components and reconciles the differences between them.

In computer programming, the adapter design pattern (often referred to as the wrapper pattern or simply a wrapper) is a design pattern for adapting one interface of a class into another interface that a client expects.