from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- n. One that regulates, as:
- n. The mechanism in a watch by which its speed is governed.
- n. A highly accurate clock used as a standard for timing other clocks.
- n. A device used to maintain uniform speed in a machine; a governor.
- n. A device used to control the flow of gases, liquids, or electric current.
- n. One, such as the member of a governmental regulatory agency, that ensures compliance with laws, regulations, and established rules: banking regulators; price regulators.
- n. A substance that affects the amount of product or the progress of a biochemical reaction or process: a regulator of embryogenesis.
- n. See regulator gene.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- n. A device that controls or limits something.
- n. A person or group that sets standards of practice, especially those established by law.
- n. A very accurate clock, used by clockmakers to measure the timekeeping of each newly made clock.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- n. One who, or that which, regulates.
- n. A contrivance for regulating and controlling motion.
- n. The lever or index in a watch, which controls the effective length of the hairspring, and thus regulates the vibrations of the balance.
- n. The governor of a steam engine.
- n. A valve for controlling the admission of steam to the steam chest, in a locomotive.
- n. A clock, or other timepiece, used as a standard of correct time. See Astronomical clock (a), under Clock.
- n. A member of a volunteer committee which, in default of the lawful authority, undertakes to preserve order and prevent crimes; also, sometimes, one of a band organized for the comission of violent crimes.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. One who or that which regulates.
- n. A mechanical contrivance intended to produce uniformity of motion, temperature, power, etc.
- n. The original valve-motion of Watt's double-action condensing pumping-engine. It was a valve-box having a spindle through one of its sides, on which was a toothed sector working on a central bearing, and meshing with a rack attached to a valve. A tripping-lever attached to the sector and operated by the plug-tree caused the oscillations of the latter to open and close the valve.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- n. any of various controls or devices for regulating or controlling fluid flow, pressure, temperature, etc.
- n. a control that maintains a steady speed in a machine (as by controlling the supply of fuel)
- n. an official responsible for control and supervision of a particular activity or area of public interest
Sorry, no etymologies found.
The term regulator actually covers six or more distinct functions and responsibilities.
It makes it less likely that the regulator is aware of the considerations that are important to you in determining the final outcome.
Financial stocks gained on a Bloomberg report that Japan's financial regulator is considering tougher capital rules for the largest banks.
A regulator from the banking superintendency of Peru stated, "In our consumer protection efforts, the banks are out greatest partners."
A big regulatory challenge I heard from the Malaysian regulator is to avoid bogging down in the myriad unsavory, annoying but not terribly harmful practices that can dissipate supervisory energy, reserving resources to respond to those that can cause significant harm.
If Apple does launch their NFC phone and announces collaboration through Visa and Mastercard's payment network, do you honestly think with millions of iPhone 5's going out the door that the regulator is going to call a halt to payments from a phone?
Capital carries a cost that must be paid, whether a regulator is watching or not.
I think, really, the idea to have a consumer protection regulator, in addition to a banking regulator, is a bad idea … We bought a bunch of houses in recent years.
The systemic risk of a risk regulator is entrenched policies which completely overrule the market instead of letting the market weigh in on their opinion of the actual risk.
A Commodity Futures Trading Commission regulator is putting pressure on the agency to take action in a high-profile, two-year-old investigation of the silver market.
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