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.
You need not be a monitor to the
king.
Bacon.
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.
3. (Zoöl.) Any large Old World
lizard of the genus Varanus; esp., the Egyptian species (V.
Niloticus), which is useful because it devours the eggs and young
of the crocodile. It is sometimes five or six feet long.
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.
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.
Monitor top, the raised central portion, or
clearstory, of a car roof, having low windows along its
sides.
Mon"i*tor, n. A monitor
nozzle.