What is "mechanoreceptor"

n. (context biology English) any receptor that provides an organism with information about mechanical changes in its environment, such as movement, tension and pressure

A mechanoreceptor is a sensory receptor that responds to mechanical pressure or distortion. Normally there are four main types in glabrous skin: Pacinian corpuscles, Meissner's corpuscles, Merkel's discs, and Ruffini endings. There are also mechanoreceptors in hairy skin, and the hair cells in thoreceptors of primates like rhesus monkeys and other mammals are similar to those of humans and also studied even in early 20th century anatomically and neurophysiologically.