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A device which measures and records several physiological variables such as blood pressure, heart rate, respiration and skin conductivity while a series of questions is being asked to a subject, in an attempt to detect lies.
2002, Robert Churchhouse, Codes and Ciphers: Julius Caesar, the Enigma, and the Internet, page 3:
A polygraph consists of an unspecified number of adjacent letters. A polygraph need not be recognisable as a word in a language but if we are attempting to decipher a message which is expected to be in English and we find the heptagraph MEETING it is much more promising than if we find a heptagraph such as DKRPIGX.