monitor top

Monitor \Mon"i*tor\, n. [L., fr. monere. See {Monition}, and cf.
   {Mentor}.]
   1. One who admonishes; one who warns of faults, informs of
      duty, or gives advice and instruction by way of reproof or
      caution.
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            You need not be a monitor to the king. --Bacon.
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   2. Hence, specifically, a pupil selected to look to the
      school in the absence of the instructor, to notice the
      absence or faults of the scholars, or to instruct a
      division or class.
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   3. (Zool.) Any large Old World lizard of the genus {Varanus};
      esp., the Egyptian species ({Varanus Niloticus}), which is
      useful because it devours the eggs and young of the
      crocodile. It is sometimes five or six feet long.
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   4. [So called from the name given by Captain Ericson, its
      designer, to the first ship of the kind.] An ironclad war
      vessel, very low in the water, and having one or more
      heavily-armored revolving turrets, carrying heavy guns.
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   5. (Mach.) A tool holder, as for a lathe, shaped like a low
      turret, and capable of being revolved on a vertical pivot
      so as to bring successively the several tools in holds
      into proper position for cutting.
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   6. A monitor nozzle.
      [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

   {Monitor top}, the raised central portion, or clearstory, of
      a car roof, having low windows along its sides.
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