Oximeter

//ɒkˈsɪmɪtə// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A device that measures the quantity of oxygen in something, particularly air in the atmosphere.

    "The instruments in which the oxigen gas of a determined quantity of air was ascertained, received the name of EUDIOMETERS, because they were considered as measurers of the purity of air. They are however more properly called OXIMETERS."

  2. 2
    a measuring instrument that measures the oxygen in arterial blood wordnet
  3. 3
    A device that measures the quantity of oxygen in something, particularly air in the atmosphere.; A device that measures the oxygen saturation of arterial blood. specifically

    "The Millikan oxymeter, with which Dr. Howard Bierman has been working and which he has discussed with this group, can be attached to the external ear and gives prompt information about oxygen saturation. It is so calibrated that the administration of 97 to 100% oxygen to normal individuals causes an increase of 5 per cent in the oxymeter reading."

Synonyms

All synonyms
eudiometer

Example

More examples

"The doctor instructed the patient to clip the pulse oximeter onto their finger so that they could measure their blood oxygen saturation levels."

Etymology

From oxi- (variant of oxy-) + -meter. The word was first applied in sense 2 (“a device that measures the oxygen saturation of arterial blood”) by American physiologist Glenn Allan Millikan (1906–1947).

Related phrases

CO-oximeterpulse oximeter

More for "oximeter"

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.