El"e*va`tor (?), n. [L., one who raises up, a deliverer: cf. F. élévateur.]
One who, or that which, raises or lifts up anything; as:
(a)
A mechanical contrivance, usually an endless belt or chain with a series of scoops or buckets, for transferring grain to an upper loft for storage.
(b)
A cage or platform and the hoisting machinery in a hotel, warehouse, mine, etc., for conveying persons, goods, etc., to or from different floors or levels; -- called in England a lift; the cage or platform itself.
(c)
A building for elevating, storing, and discharging, grain.
(d) (Anat.)
A muscle which serves to raise a part of the body, as the leg or the eye.
(e) (Surg.)
An instrument for raising a depressed portion of a bone.
Elevator head, leg, ∧ boot, the boxes in which the upper pulley, belt, and lower pulley, respectively, run in a grain elevator.
© Webster 1913
El"e*va`tor, n. (Aëronautics)
A movable plane or group of planes used to control the altitude or fore-and-aft poise or inclination of an airship or flying machine.
© Webster 1913