The Collaborative International Dictionary
Electric \E*lec"tric\ ([-e]*l[e^]k"tr[i^]k), Electrical \E*lec"tric*al\ ([-e]*l[e^]k"tr[i^]*kal), a. [L. electrum amber, a mixed metal, Gr. 'h`lektron; akin to 'hle`ktwr the beaming sun, cf. Skr. arc to beam, shine: cf. F. ['e]lectrique. The name came from the production of electricity by the friction of amber.]
Pertaining to electricity; consisting of, containing, derived from, or produced by, electricity; as, electric power or virtue; an electric jar; electric effects; an electric spark; an electric charge; an electric current; an electrical engineer.
Capable of occasioning the phenomena of electricity; as, an electric or electrical machine or substance; an electric generator.
Electrifying; thrilling; magnetic. ``Electric Pindar.''
--Mrs. Browning.-
powered by electricity; as, electrical appliances; an electric toothbrush; an electric automobile.
Electric atmosphere, or Electric aura. See under Aura.
Electrical battery. See Battery.
Electrical brush. See under Brush.
Electric cable. See Telegraph cable, under Telegraph.
Electric candle. See under Candle.
Electric cat (Zo["o]l.), one of three or more large species of African catfish of the genus Malapterurus (esp. M. electricus of the Nile). They have a large electrical organ and are able to give powerful shocks; -- called also sheathfish.
Electric clock. See under Clock, and see Electro-chronograph.
Electric current, a current or stream of electricity traversing a closed circuit formed of conducting substances, or passing by means of conductors from one body to another which is in a different electrical state.
Electric eel, or Electrical eel (Zo["o]l.), a South American eel-like fresh-water fish of the genus Gymnotus ( G. electricus), from two to five feet in length, capable of giving a violent electric shock. See Gymnotus.
Electrical fish (Zo["o]l.), any fish which has an electrical organ by means of which it can give an electrical shock. The best known kinds are the torpedo, the gymnotus, or electrical eel, and the electric cat. See Torpedo, and Gymnotus.
Electric fluid, the supposed matter of electricity; lightning. [archaic]
Electrical image (Elec.), a collection of electrical points regarded as forming, by an analogy with optical phenomena, an image of certain other electrical points, and used in the solution of electrical problems.
--Sir W. Thomson.Electric machine, or Electrical machine, an apparatus for generating, collecting, or exciting, electricity, as by friction.
Electric motor. See Electro-motor, 2.
Electric osmose. (Physics) See under Osmose.
Electric pen, a hand pen for making perforated stencils for multiplying writings. It has a puncturing needle driven at great speed by a very small magneto-electric engine on the penhandle.
Electric railway, a railway in which the machinery for moving the cars is driven by an electric current.
Electric ray (Zo["o]l.), the torpedo.
Electric telegraph. See Telegraph.
Wiktionary
n. ''Electrophorus electricus'', a species of fish resembling an eel (not related) that is capable of generating powerful electric shocks.
WordNet
n. eel-shaped freshwater fish of South America having electric organs in its body [syn: Electrophorus electric]
Wikipedia
The electric eel (Electrophorus electricus) is an electric fish, and the only species in that genus. Despite the name, it is not an eel, but rather a knifefish.
Electric eel may refer to:
- Electric eel, the South American freshwater fish Electrophorus electricus that can generate electric shocks
- electric eels, a punk rock band from Cleveland, Ohio that was active between 1972 and 1975
- Electric Eel Shock, a three-piece, Japanese, garage metal band, formed in Tokyo, active since the late 1990s
- Plumber's snake, a flexible auger used to remove clogs in plumbing
Usage examples of "electric eel".
A fully rested electric eel can develop a potential of up to 600 or 700 volts, and it can discharge as often as 300 times per second when first stimulated.
In a game, when you have problems with giant water rats, you crack open a raw alligator egg and mix in chopped-up electric eel.
Without warning, Jherek felt a low buzz in his hands, like he'd brushed up against an electric eel.
These voltages are connected up in series along the length of the fish so that, in a strongly electric fish such as an electric eel, the whole battery generates as much as 1 amp at 650 volts.
I unplugged the electric eel that sent shock waves all over Miami.
Or the electric eel that tunes in on the pulsed, electrical radar of the knife fish, or the shark which is sensitive to the electrical neurological activity of its prey?
They could not help themselves, any more than an electric eel can help discharging itself of an excessive amount of current.
One may not blame an electric eel for giving one a shock, but one does not enjoy the experience.
That thing wriggling about like a minute electric eel, always in motion, is known as the trypanosome.
He stopped the tape and answered it, then almost dropped the phone like an electric eel as he realised what he was doing.
Carl's dugout turned slowly in the brown iridescent lagoon infested with sting ray, fresh water shark, arequipa, candirus, water boa, crocodile, electric eel, aquatic panther and other noxious creatures dreamed up by the lying explorers who infest bars marginal to the area.