a. (sb.) [f. THERMO- + ELECTRIC.]
1. Of or pertaining to thermo-electricity; characterized or operated by an electric current produced by difference of temperature. Thermo-electric battery, current, pair, pile: see quot. 1876.
1823. Cumming, in Ann. Philos., Sept., 177 (heading). A List of Substances arranged according to their Thermoelectric Relations, with a Description of Instruments for exhibiting Rotation by Thermoelectricity.
1832. Nat. Philos., II. Electro-Magnet., xiii. § 305. 93 (Usef. Knowl. Soc.). The electrical current thus excited has been termed Thermo-electric, in order to distinguish it from the common galvanic current.
1842. Francis, Dict. Arts, etc., Thermo-Electric Circuit,… Piles,… Thermometer.
1863. Tyndall, Heat, i. (1870), App. 77. A thermo-electric pair or couple.
c. 1865. J. Wylde, in Circ. Sc., I. 29/1. We observe the thermo-electric battery.
1876. Preece & Sivewright, Telegraphy, 298. A current of electricity will continue to flow so long as a difference of temperature is maintained between the junction and the extremities. This current is named a thermo-electric current, and the two metals form what is known as a thermo-electric pair; a combination of these pairs forms the thermo-electric pile or battery.
1878. Gurney, Crystallogr., 115. Crystals sometimes acquire different electrifications when two ends are … differently heated…. These crystals are called thermo-electric.
1902. Sloane, Stand. Electr. Dict., Thermo-electric Telephone, a telephone transmitter including a thermo-electric battery placed in circuit with the line.
2. Of or pertaining to heat and electricity; thermo-electric alarm or call, a device in which a rise or fall of temperature to a pre-arranged point closes an electric circuit so as to cause a bell to ring.
1877. Knight, Dict. Mech., Thermo-electric-Alarm, an apparatus designed to indicate the rise of temperature in bearings for shaftings, or in any kind of machinery or any branch of manufacture where a fixed temperature is desirable.
1902. Sloane, Stand. Electr. Dict., Thermo-electric Call, a thermostat arranged to ring a bell or give some indication when the temperature rises or falls beyond certain points.
† B. sb. (See quot. 1842.) Obs.
1823. Cumming, in Ann. Philos., Sept., 179. The motion of the thermoelectrics on the approach of a magnet.
1842. Francis, Dict. Arts, etc., Thermo-Electrics, metallic bodies, the union of which show[s] the effects attributed to thermo-electricity.
So Thermo-electrical a.; hence Thermo-electrically adv., in a thermo-electric manner; by means of thermo-electricity.
1830. Edinb. Encycl., XVIII. 584/1. Professor Oersted has proposed to call the current discovered by Dr. Seebeck the thermo-electrical current.
1878. Chrystal, in Encycl. Brit., VIII. 94/2. A thermoelectric series, any metal in which is thermoelectrically related to any following one.
1881. Athenæum, 29 Jan., 169/3. A thermo-electrical pile, one end of which is exposed to the heat, the other end being kept cool.
