repeater

Etymology

It is formed from English repeat + -er.^[2][3][4][5] The OED, revised in 2009, compares Middle French repeteur (“a person who claims back”), found once before 1450, French répéteur (“a person who repeats”) (1660), Medieval Latin repetitor and Italian repetitore.^[2] The verb repeat goes back through Middle English repēten to Old French repeter (“to say or do again”) and Latin repetō (“to do or say again”), from re- (“again”) and petō (“to go to, strive after”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A rehearser, trainer or teacher: 1580, in J. Stow's Chronicles of England, a sense that soon died out.^[2][4] Etymonline dates the word to the 1570s,^[3] Dictionary.com to 1570–80,^[5] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged to 1598,^[6] the year of the OED's first record of the lasting sense, a person who repeats what he has heard or learned, in Florio's A Worlde of Wordes.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the 17th century a repeater was also a preacher of a repetition sermon (1672–1719).^[2] From the 18th century the word was applied to things that repeat: a recurring decimal (1721), now chiefly American,^[2] a watch or clock that strikes the hours again when a spring is pressed (1725),^[2][3] a ship that passes on an admiral's signals (1782),^[2] and a firearm that fires several shots without reloading.^[2][3] The revised OED finds the firearm sense in 1838, against 1849 in Etymonline and 1868 in the 1989 edition of the OED.^[2][3][7] In telecommunications a repeater amplifies a signal for onward transmission (1850), and on railways it repeats a signal that is out of sight (1859).^[2] American usage then applied the word to people who come back: someone who illegally votes more than once (1862),^[2] a returning customer (1872) and a frequent offender (1873);^[2] Etymonline dates the voting and offender senses to 1868.^[3] In 19th-century British slang a repeater was also a further drink after the first (1865).^[8] From 1905 repeater was used as a verb, to fit a circuit with repeaters.^[2]

Timeline

• 1580 – a rehearser, trainer or teacher (obsolete by 1598).^[2]
• 1598 – a person who repeats something heard or learned.^[2][6]
• 1672 – a preacher of a repetition sermon (obsolete by 1719).^[2]
• 1721 – a recurring decimal.^[2]
• 1725 – a repeating watch or clock.^[2][3]
• 1782 – a ship that repeats an admiral's signals.^[2]
• 1838 – a repeating firearm.^[2]
• 1850 – a device that amplifies and retransmits signals.^[2]
• 1859 – a railway signal repeating one out of sight.^[2]
• 1862 – a person who votes more than once at an election.^[2]
• 1865 – slang, a second or further drink.^[8]
• 1873 – a person often sent to prison; a repeat offender.^[2]
• 1905 – verb, to fit a circuit with a repeater.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person or thing that repeats; one who relates or recites what has been heard.^{[9][6][10][2]}
2. A firearm that can fire several shots in succession without reloading.^{[9][6][10][2]}
3. A watch or clock that strikes the hour or quarter-hour just past when a spring is pressed.^{[9][6][10][2]}
4. A device that amplifies incoming signals and retransmits them, making up for losses in transmission.^[9][2]
5. A student who repeats a course, usually one that was failed: Two repeaters joined the algebra class in January.^[10]
6. A person who fraudulently votes more than once in an election.^[10][2]
7. A person convicted more than once, especially of the same offence; a recidivist.^[10][2]
8. A recurring decimal, or a repeated digit in one; chiefly American.^[2]
9. (obsolete, 1580–1598) A rehearser, trainer or teacher.^[2][7][4]

Verb

1. To provide a circuit with a repeater, or to amplify a signal by means of one.^[2]

Word family

• nonrepeater

Related words

• repeat
• repetition
• repetitor
• petition

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
9. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ a b c d e f The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin