From WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003) [wn]:
accelerator
n 1: a pedal that controls the throttle valve; "he stepped on the
gas" [syn: accelerator pedal, gas pedal, gas,
throttle, gun]
2: a valve that regulates the supply of fuel to the engine
[syn: throttle, throttle valve]
3: (chemistry) a substance that initiates or accelerates a
chemical reaction without itself being affected [syn:
catalyst] [ant: anticatalyst]
4: a scientific instrument that increases the kinetic energy of
charged particles [syn: particle accelerator, {atom
smasher}]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Accelerator \Ac*cel"er*a`tor\, n.
One who, or that which, accelerates. Also as an adj.; as,
accelerator nerves.
[1913 Webster]
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (19 Sep 2003) [foldoc]:
accelerator
<hardware> Additional hardware to perform some function faster
than is possible in software running on the normal CPU.
Examples include graphics accelerators and {floating-point
accelerator}s.
(1994-11-08)