misphase

English

Etymology

From mis- +‎ phase.

Verb

misphase (third-person singular simple present misphases, present participle misphasing, simple past and past participle misphased)

1. To put or become out of phase.
   • 1920, Journal of the Society of Telegraph Engineers and of Electricians, page 225:

     We can misphase our currents in the conductors and add them, or obtain the same final result in still other ways.

   • 1937, The Marconi Review - Volumes 6-8, page 4:

     Alternatively if we still desire to feed the system from the No. 1 end, we must misphase each succeeding aerial by 360 degrees minus the space phase as this is the same as giving the next aerial a lagging current.

   • 1991, Richard B. Neal, The Stanford Two-mile Accelerator - Volume 1, page 541:

     Then, he must misphase two klystrons, adjusting by equal and opposite amounts until the beam energy is correct.

Noun

misphase (plural misphases)

1. The act or state of misphasing.
   • 1915, Engineering and Boiler House Review - Volume 29, page 130:

     Furthermore, no discriminating gear can protect the generator in the event of a misphase, and it is well known that the strain on the generator may be greater in the event of a misphase than if the generator short-circuited directly across its terminals.

   • 1950, Alan Wilfrid Ladner, Charles Robert Stoner, Short Wave Wireless Communication, page 323:

     […] as we tilt the wire more and more into the wave, although the space-phase is tending to counteract the misphase due to the wire length, the pickup in each elemental length is getting smaller.

   • 2013, Ben Aaronovitch, Remembrance of the Daleks, page 40:

     The misphase must have caused an overload.