polygraphs

Noun

polygraph (plural polygraphs)

1. A device which measures and records several physiological variables such as blood pressure, heart rate, respiration and skin conductivity while a series of questions is being posed to a subject, in an attempt to detect deception.
   • It used to be just a plain office with a chair and some instruments on a table. Then they got the new, fancy polygraph system.1992, Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash, page 270

   Synonyms:

   lie detector

2. (dated) A mechanical instrument for multiplying copies of a writing, resembling multiple pantographs.

   Synonyms:

   manifold writer, autopen

3. (archaic) A collection of different works, either by one or several authors.
4. A group of letters that represent a single phoneme.

   Synonyms:

   multigraph

5. Any group of letters treated as a single item.
   • A polygraph consists of an unspecified number of adjacent letters. A polygraph need not be recognisable as a word in a language but if we are attempting to decipher a message which is expected to be in English and we find the heptagraph MEETING it is much more promising than if we find a heptagraph...2002, Robert Churchhouse, Codes and Ciphers: Julius Caesar, the Enigma, and the Internet, page 3
6. An author who writes on many subjects.

See all 8 meanings of polygraph