The Collaborative International Dictionary
generating tone
Generator \Gen"er*a`tor\, n. [L.]
One who, or that which, generates, begets, causes, or produces.
An apparatus in which vapor or gas is formed from a liquid or solid by means of heat or chemical process, as a steam boiler, gas retort, or vessel for generating carbonic acid gas, etc.
(Mus.) The principal sound or sounds by which others are produced; the fundamental note or root of the common chord; -- called also generating tone.
(Elec.) Any machine that transforms mechanical into electrical energy; a dynamo.
(Math.) a mathematical entity which, when subjected to an operation, yields another mathematical entity; also, a generatrix.