rheostat /'ri: astaet; Irisstset/ n instrument for regulating the strength of an electric current by mearrr of different resistances in the circuit, eg a$ in the volume control of a radio receiver. 變阻器(在電路中以不同的電阻控制電流強(qiáng)度的器具, 如無線電接收機(jī)的音量控制器內(nèi)所用者)。