solenoid

  1. Noun.  A coil of wire that acts as a magnet when an electric current flows through it.
  2. Noun.  A mechanical switch consisting of such a coil containing a metal core whose movement is controlled by the current.

This is an unmodified, but possibly outdated, definition from Wiktionary and used here under the Creative Commons license. Wiktionary is a great resource. If you like it too, please donate to Wikimedia.

This entry was last updated on RefTopia from its source on 3/20/2012.