Definition of "rotor"

Turbines have been around for a long time—windmills and water wheels are early examples. The name comes from the Latin turbo, meaning vortex, and thus the defining property of a turbine is that a fluid or gas turns the blades of a rotor, which is attached to a shaft that can perform useful work.

2013 July-August, Lee S. Langston, “The Adaptable Gas Turbine”, in American Scientist

A glider instructor, who had been in the COS area for more than 25 years, was interviewed. He stated that around 1200 on the day of the accident, he observed a rotor hit the ground with estimated wind speeds of 70 to 80 miles per hour.

2001, National Transportation Safety Board, “1.7.1 Observations and Forecasts”, in Uncontrolled Descent and Collision With Terrain, United Airlines Flight 585, Boeing 737-200, N999UA, 4 Miles South of Colorado Springs Municipal Airport, Colorado Springs, Colorado, March 3, 1991‎, archived from the original on 22 January 2021, pages 30–31

The following figure shows examples of the most versatile class of these oscillators. The first emulates the p10 shown above; the second has period 62 and a rotor of size 10.

1997 November 30, David Bell, “Day & Night - An Interesting Variant of Life (part 2/5)”, in comp.theory.cell-automata‎ (Usenet)

The problem of determining the asymptotic colouring for a cyclic pattern from a given initial black and white pattern is completely solved. The analysis leads to the proposal of the distinction between primary and secondary rotor cells (i.e. a refinement of the classical stator-rotor distinction).

1998 March 18, Gunnar Johnsson, “Genetic aspects of the Game of Life.”, in comp.theory.cell-automata‎ (Usenet)

In B37/S23, it goes symmetrical after 10 ticks, and produces a familiar pair of B-heptominoes after 23 ticks (the next generation after this can be found in the rotor of a standard B3/S23 p46 oscillator):

2008 June 25, Dave Greene, “Life: B37/S23 - A Chaotic Universe.”, in comp.theory.cell-automata‎ (Usenet)