thyratron

noun

thy·​ra·​tron ˈthī-rə-ˌträn 

: a gas-filled hot-cathode electron tube in which the grid controls only the start of a continuous current thus giving the tube a trigger effect

Examples of thyratron in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Each quantizer employed five VT-109/2051 thyratrons. —IEEE Spectrum, 25 Jan. 2019

Word History

Etymology

Greek thýra "door" + -tron — more at door

Note: The American physicist and electrical engineer Albert W. Hull (1880-1966) is credited with coinage of this word and several other names of electron tubes (as magnetron) ; see C.G. Suits and J.M. Lafferty, Albert Wallace Hull, 1880-1966, A Biographical Memoir, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C., 1970.

First Known Use

1929, in the meaning defined above