Also 7 -our. [a. L. commūnicātor, agent-sb. f. commūnicāre to COMMUNICATE: see -OR.] One who or that which communicates.

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  1.  In general sense.

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1662.  H. More, Def. Threefold Cabbala, iv. 115. The first communicatour of which Mystery.

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1852.  J. Wilson, in Blackw. Mag., LXXII. 149. The Poem represents … God as the willing infinite Communicator of Good.

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1859.  Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., XX. I. 176. The rope … is a mere intermediate communicator of power to the distant machine.

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1875.  Whitney, Life Lang., xiv. 283. To impress the personality of the communicator upon the recipient.

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  2.  spec. An apparatus for communicating; esp. a. that part of a telegraph instrument used in sending messages; b. a contrivance for communicating with the guard or driver of a railway train.

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c. 1865.  J. Wylde, in Circ. Sc., I. 274/1. The words … sent by the communicator are spelt, letter by letter, on the indicator.

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1872.  Daily News, 30 July. Parliament imposed a penalty on the misuse of the communicator [in a railway train].

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