Other forms: distributors
A distributor is the company that gets copies to the shops. A film distributor, exclusive distributor, sign with a distributor.
It sits between the maker and the seller, and in film it is the party that decides how many screens a picture opens on — which decides most of what happens next. In engines, the distributor sends the spark to each cylinder in turn, though modern engines have done away with it. Note distribute, distribution.
1noundistributorThe company that gets copies to the shops.
“The publisher hired a new distributor to get its magazines into more shops.”
2nounengineThe engine part that sends the spark to each cylinder.
“The car wouldn't start because the distributor had got wet in the storm.”
distributor is a middleman or a part.
Proto-Indo-European
*tréyes
Latin
distributus
English
distribute
English, today
distributor
Built from
From distribute + -or. distribute comes from Latin distributus, past participle of distribuere (“to divide, distribute”), from dis- (“apart”) + tribuere (“to give, impart”); see tribute.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA