persuader

Noun

persuader (plural persuaders)

1. One who, or that which, persuades, literally or figuratively.
   • […] purſued his vnneighbourly purpoſe in ſuch ſort: that hee being the ſtronger perſwader, and ſhe (belike) too credulous in beleeuing or elſe ouer-feeble in reſiſting, from priuate imparlance, they fell to action; and continued their cloſe fight a long while together, vnſeene and vvithout...1620, Giovanni Bocaccio, translated by John Florio, The Decameron, Containing an Hundred Pleaſant Nouels: Wittily Diſcourſed, Betweene Seuen Honourable Ladies, and Three Noble Gentlemen, Isaac...

   Synonyms:

   convincer

   Antonyms:

   persuadee

   1. (euphemistic, informal) A hammer; any tool used improvisationally to strike a recalcitrant object.
      • It's true that a good worker doesn't misuse a hammer, and it's also true that a good worker knows that sometimes using a persuader to expedite a task is appropriate for efficiency.
   2. (colloquial, historical) A tool used to pack the type into the form.
      • Next fit the quoins, using the “persuader” to squeeze in the pages, and tap up all around.1898, John Southward, Modern Printing: A Handbook of the Principles and Practice of Typography and the Auxiliary Arts
   3. An electrode that directs electrons into a multiplier.
      • These electrons are guided to the second dynode by the resultant electric field of this dynode and the persuader.1953, Stanley William Amos, D. C. Birkinshaw, Television Engineering, Principles and Practice, page 108
   4. (slang) A spur (for riding a horse).
      • He had very long legs, which he carried far back, and made most liberal use of his persuaders, so that what with his weight, and what with his style of riding, his horses were far from enjoying a sinecure.The Sportsman (volume 5, page 30)
      • The Squire laboured under a similar difficulty, and his persuaders were as busily at play as Jacob's. When, however, the horses had caught their second wind, they mended the places of their riders, and carried them closer to the flying chase.1845, Tait's Edinburgh Magazine, volume 12, page 646