digester

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun One that makes a digest.
• noun Chemistry A vessel in which substances are softened or decomposed, usually for further processing.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun One who or that which digestes.
• noun One who digests food.
• noun That which assists the digestion of food, as a medicine or an artiele of food that strengthens the digestive power of the alimentary canal.
• noun A strong close vessel, in which bones or other substances may he subjected, in water or other liquid, to a temperature above that of boiling. It is made of iron or other metal, with an airtight lid, in which is a safety-valve. In this vessel animal or other substances are placed, and submitted to a higher degree of heat that could be obtained in open vessels, by which means the solvent power of the liquid is greatly increased. It is called in this form (first described in 1681)Papin's digester, from its inventor, Denis Papin, a Frenchman. The principle is applied in other forms, and by it various useful products are obtained on a large scale from animal carcases unfit for other use. In other kinds of digesters the operation is chemical, and does not imply the extreme pressures employed in that above described. Thus, in one kind, nut-galls or other vegetable products are placed in a vessel and saturated with ether; the volatile extract falls in minute drops into a closed vessel below, which is connected by means of a pipe with the top of the upper vessel to prevent the escape of the ether. See rendering-tank. Also digestor.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun One who digests.
• noun A medicine or an article of food that aids digestion, or strengthens digestive power.
• noun A strong closed vessel, in which bones or other substances may be subjected, usually in water or other liquid, to a temperature above that of boiling, in order to soften them.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun One who, or that which, digests.
• noun dated A medicine or food that aids digestion, or strengthens digestive power.
• noun A strong closed vessel in which bones or other substances may be subjected, usually in water or other liquid, to a temperature above that of boiling, in order to soften them.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun autoclave consisting of a vessel in which plant or animal materials are digested