Other forms: terminators
A terminator is somebody or something that brings a thing to an end. The terminator of the line, a terminator gene, the terminator on a cable.
In astronomy it is the line between day and night on a planet or moon, which is a beautiful use of the word. In electronics a terminator is the fitting on the end of a cable that stops the signal bouncing back. The film has taken the word over for most people.
1nounterminatorSomebody or something that brings a thing to an end.
“The new manager became known as the terminator after he closed three departments in a month.”
terminator is an ender.
Latin terminator comes from terminare, to set a limit, from terminus, a boundary.
Latin
terminator
English, today
terminator
Partly from post-classical Latin terminator (5th century), from Latin terminō; partly from terminate + -or*.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA