From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishthermostatther‧mo‧stat /ˈθɜːməstæt $ ˈθɜːr-/ noun [countable] TPan instrument used for keeping a room or a machine at a particular temperature
Examples from the Corpus
thermostat• If the temperature of the heating system seems erratic, the fault may lie with the boiler thermostat.• Like thermostats, they constantly adjust such things as neurotransmitter release and receptor sensitivity to compensate for perturbations from the environment.• Buy a programmable thermostat that will turn your heating system on and off according to your schedule.• An hour later, when the house begins to feel like the Mekong Delta, I check the thermostat.• It would differ very greatly in degree from the simple algorithm of the thermostat, but need not differ in principle.• Try altering the setting on the thermostat dial; if nothing changes the thermostat is probably faulty.• The remedy is to renew the thermostat.• The thermostat goes under the water, with the heater.Origin thermostat (1800-1900) thermo- + -stat “instrument for keeping something steady” (from Greek -states, from histanei “to cause to stand”) 