[agent-n. in L. form f. compensāre to COMPENSATE: cf. F. compensateur.] One who or that which compensates.

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1888.  Pall Mall G., 19 April, 6/1. A compensator, a consoler, and a refuge from the wreck and ruin.

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  b.  spec. A contrivance or instrument for producing mechanical compensation: see quots.

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1837.  Brewster, Magnet., 359. The compensator produces the same effect as the iron on shipboard does.

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c. 1861.  Tripplin & Rigg, trans. Saunier’s Mod. Horology, 683. Makers of compensators.

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1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., 462. Magnetic compensator, an iron plate fixed near the compass, to neutralize the effect of local attraction upon the needle.

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1874.  Knight, Dict. Mech., 601/1. Compensator … a device to equalize the action of the exhauster which withdraws the gas from the retorts.

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