Plain English Meaning

A device that mixes fuel with air for the engine. A small float inside it keeps the fuel level steady, like the float in a toilet tank, and the moving air sucks fuel out and sprays it into the airflow heading to the cylinders.

Full Definition

A carburetor that meters fuel into the engine's induction airflow using a float-controlled valve to maintain a constant fuel level in a small chamber, from which fuel is drawn into the airstream by the pressure drop created at a venturi. Air entering the carburetor accelerates through the venturi, lowering its pressure relative to the fuel chamber, which pushes fuel out through a discharge nozzle and atomizes it into the air on its way to the cylinders.