comptometer

English

Etymology

Trade name of Felt and Tarrant Manufacturing Company, apparently a blend of compute and meter (“measure”).

Noun

comptometer (plural comptometers)

1. A mechanical or electromechanical calculator; an adding machine without a crank, driven instead by keypress.
   • 1956, Anthony Burgess, Time for a Tiger (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 56:

     Another was able to add up correctly the most complicated lists of figures in less time than a comptometer.

Derived terms

• comptometrist