polygraph
polygraph Lexical Profile
polygraph Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A machine designed to detect and record simultaneous changes in physiological characteristics, such as a person's pulse, blood pressure, and respiration rate, used especially as a lie detector.
"The defense attorney argued that the results from the polygraph were unreliable and inadmissible in court."
An author who writes productively on a wide variety of subjects.
"The seventeenth-century scholar was a celebrated polygraph whose treatises spanned theology, astronomy, and music."
A mechanical device consisting of linked pens used historically for producing simultaneous copies of a handwritten document or drawing.
"Museum visitors admired the brass polygraph that Thomas Jefferson used to duplicate his personal correspondence."
• verb
To administer a lie-detector test to a person using a physiological recording machine.
"Federal investigators decided to polygraph the witness to verify the accuracy of his statement."
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Coined in the late 18th century from Ancient Greek 'polygraphos', meaning 'writing much or copiously', combining 'polys' (many) and 'graphein' (to write). It originally referred to a mechanical duplicating device used by figures such as Thomas Jefferson to copy letters simultaneously before being applied in the early 20th century to physiological recording instruments.