A device in an engine that mixes air and fuel in the right proportions so the engine can burn it efficiently (the British spelling; Americans spell it 'carburetor').
From French 'carburant' (fuel), from Latin 'carbo' (coal/carbon) plus the agent suffix. The term emerged in the early 1900s as automobiles were being invented.
Carburettors were such perfectly engineered devices that they're actually being phased out—fuel injectors do the job better—and it's oddly poignant that this precise mechanical marvel, a symbol of 20th-century engineering pride, is becoming obsolete like the steam engine before it.
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