spoiler (redirected from looter)

spoiler: see airplane.

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spoiler

1. a device fitted to an aircraft wing to increase drag and reduce lift. It is usually extended into the airflow to assist descent and banking

2. a similar device fitted to a car

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spoiler [′spȯi·lər]

(aerospace engineering)

A plate, series of plates, comb, tube, bar, or other device that projects into the airstream about a body to break up or spoil the smoothness of the flow, especially such a device that projects from the upper surface of an airfoil, giving an increased drag and a decreased lift.

(electromagnetism)

Rod grating mounted on a parabolic reflector to change the pencil-beam pattern of the reflector to a cosecant-squared pattern; rotating the reflector and grating 90° with respect to the feed antenna changes one pattern to the other.

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1.		spoiler - A remark which reveals important plot elements from books or movies, thus denying the reader (of the article) the proper suspense when reading the book or watching the movie.
2.		spoiler - Any remark which telegraphs the solution of a problem or puzzle, thus denying the reader the pleasure of working out the correct answer (see also interesting). Either sense readily forms compounds like "total spoiler", "quasi-spoiler" and even "pseudo-spoiler". By convention, Usenet news articles which are spoilers in either sense should contain the word "spoiler" in the Subject: line, or guarantee via various tricks that the answer appears only after several screens-full of warning, or conceal the sensitive information via rot13, or some combination of these techniques.