[n. of agent f. (on L. analogies) L. aspīrāre: see ASPIRE v. and -ATOR, Cf. F. aspirateur.] He who or that which aspirates, breathes, or blows upon; spec. a. an apparatus for drawing a stream of air or gas through a tube; b. an instrument for evacuating pus from abscesses by means of an exhausted receiver; c. a kind of winnowing or fanning machine.
1863. Watts, Dict. Chem., I. 427. Mohr’s aspirator has the form of an ordinary gasometer.
1878. T. Bryant, Pract. Surg., 20. I have drawn off the pus from a chronic abscess with the aspirator.
1883. E. Ingersoll, in Harper’s Mag., June, 76/1. The wheat … falls into an aspirator on the seventh floor.
