[a. L. calculātor, n. of agent f. calculā-re, corresp. to F. calculateur: see CALCULATE and -OR.]
1. One who calculates; a reckoner.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., II. 408. Siche ben many calkelatours.
1611. Cotgr., Calculateur, a reckoner, calculator.
1722. De Foe, Plague (1884), 227. Calculators of Nativities.
1841. Thackeray, Sec. Fun. Nap., ii. (Pock. ed., 1887), 321. Economists and calculators.
1841–4. Emerson, Ess. Experience. Nature hates calculators; her methods are saltatory and impulsive.
2. a. A set of tables to facilitate calculations. b. A mechanical contrivance for performing certain calculations; a calculating machine.
1784. Thomson (title), The Universal Calculator.
1824. W. Walton (title), The Complete Calculator … and Universal Ready Reckoner.
1876. S. Kensington Museum Catal., No. 831. This screw bears a calculator which serves to read angular displacements of less than 20 seconds.
