different between duct vs gaffer

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin ductus (“leading, conducting”, noun), from d?c? (“to lead, conduct, draw”) +? -tus (action noun suffix). Doublet of ductus and douit. Also via Medieval Latin ductus (“a conveyance of water; a channel”), which itself has the first mentioned etymology.

Pronunciation

• enPR: d?kt
• IPA^(key): /d?kt/
• Rhymes: -?kt
• Homophone: ducked

Noun

duct (plural ducts)

1. a pipe, tube or canal which carries gas or liquid from one place to another

   Hyponym: air duct

   1. an enclosure or channel for electrical cable runs, telephone cables, or other conductors

      Hyponym: bus duct

   2. (anatomy) a vessel for conveying lymph or glandular secretions such as tears or bile

      Hyponyms: bile duct, cochlear duct, collecting duct, cystic duct, duct of Wirsung, efferent duct, ejaculatory duct, epithelial duct, lacrimal duct, milk duct, Müllerian duct, nasolacrimal duct, pancreatic duct, paramesonephric duct, tear duct, thoracic duct, thyroglossal duct, utriculosaccular duct, Wolffian duct

   3. (botany) a tube or elongated cavity (such as a xylem vessel) for conveying water, sap, or air
2. (physics) a layer (as in the atmosphere or the ocean) which occurs under usually abnormal conditions and in which radio or sound waves are confined to a restricted path
3. (obsolete) guidance, direction
   • 1650, Henry Hammond, Of the reasonableness of Christian religion

     […] otherwise to express His care and love to mankind, viz., in giving and consigning to them His written word for a rule and constant director of life, not leaving them to the duct of their own inclinations.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

duct (third-person singular simple present ducts, present participle ducting, simple past and past participle ducted)

1. to enclose in a duct
2. to channel something (such as a gas) or propagate something (such as radio waves) through a duct or series of ducts

Derived terms

Related terms

References

• “duct”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.
• “duct”, in Merriam–Webster Online Dictionary, (Please provide a date or year).

Romanian

Etymology

From Latin ductus

Noun

duct n (uncountable)

1. duct

Declension

English

Etymology 1

From gaff (“hook”) +? -er. The natural lighting on early film sets was adjusted by opening and closing flaps in the tent cloths, called gaff cloths or gaff flaps.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?æf?/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?æf?/
• Rhymes: -æf?(?)

Noun

gaffer (plural gaffers)

1. (film) A chief lighting technician for a motion-picture or television production.
2. A glassblower.

Related terms

• gaffer tape

Translations

Etymology 2

Likely a contraction of godfather, but with the vowels influenced by grandfather. Compare French compère, German Gevatter.

Noun

gaffer (plural gaffers)

1. (colloquial) An old man.
   • 1845, Thomas Cooper, The Purgatory of Suicides, Book the Fourth, Stanza IX:

     If thou return not, Gammer o'er her pail

     Will sing in sorrow, 'neath the brinded cow,

     And Gaffer sigh over his nut-brown ale […]

2. (Britain) A foreman.
3. A sailor.
4. (in Maritime regions) The baby in the house.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:old man

Related terms

• gammer

Translations

References

• “gaffer”, in OED Online ?, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1989

Anagrams

• Graeff

French

Etymology

gaffe +? -er

Verb

gaffer

1. to make a gaffe; to mess up; botch up
2. to gaffer tape

Conjugation

Further reading

• “gaffer” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Norman

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

Verb

gaffer

1. (Jersey) to grasp

Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??af?r/

Verb

gaffer

1. Soft mutation of caffer.

Mutation