Today I was telling wow about an incident which involved a solenoid. Every one of us who has ever driven an automobile, has had to use one to start the motor. But I suspect that only a few have heard the term before.

o[le[noid 7sb4l! n.d#, s9l4!38
n.
5Fr sol=no:de < Gr sblcn, a tube, channel (< IE *tul3 < base *twb3 > Sans tdVa, a quiver) + eidos, 3OID6 a coil of wire, usually wound in the form of a helix, that acts like a bar magnet when carrying a current: used in brakes, switches, relays, etc.
so#le[noi4dal
adj.
When you start the motor, turning the key all the way closes a circuit that activates a solenoid using current from the battery to operate starting motor. When motor has started, and the key springs back partway, the battery is no longer connect to the starting motor. I had a solenoid jam closed, and it burned out my whole electrical system. We were up in Canada, and you would not believe the trouble we had. The Toyota dealer would not touch it until he got authorization in mail from my insurance company. We had to rent a car to get home. And a month later I had a ride to recover my vehicle in a Canadian 8 passenger plane in turbulence so violent that even the pilots were airsick.
If for no other reason, that experience fixed the word "solenoid" in my memory.