Definitions

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

  • noun A colorless flammable material made from nitrocellulose and camphor and used to make photographic film.
  • noun Motion-picture film.
  • noun The cinema; motion pictures.
  • adjective Made of or using a material made from nitrocellulose and camphor.
  • adjective Of or portrayed on film or in motion pictures.
  • adjective Artificial; synthetic.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Having the shape or semblance of cells.
  • noun A substance made of guncotton, camphor, and some other ingredients, imitating ivory, or, when colored, tortoise-shell, coral, amber, malachite, etc. Many articles, useful and ornamental, are manufactured from it.

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

  • noun A substance composed essentially of gun cotton and camphor, and when pure resembling ivory in texture and color, but variously colored to imitate coral, tortoise shell, amber, malachite, etc. It is used in the manufacture of jewelry and many small articles, as combs, brushes, collars, and cuffs; -- originally called xylonite.

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

  • noun Any of a variety of thermoplastics created from nitrocellulose and camphor, once used as photographic film.
  • noun figuratively, often used attributively The genre of cinema; film.

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

  • adjective artificial as if portrayed in a film
  • noun highly flammable substance made from cellulose nitrate and camphor; used in e.g. motion-picture and X-ray film; its use has decreased with the development of nonflammable thermoplastics
  • noun a medium that disseminates moving pictures

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Originally a trademark.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Former trademark of Celluloid Manufacturing Company

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Examples

  • Sandlers work is really much the thing to possibly adore or hate. we personally regard You Dont Mess With The Zohan as the misfortune film in celluloid history.

    A Pizza Mind: The 50 Biggest Movies Of 2010 The films most likely ... admin 2009

  • Iconic actors exist, in celluloid form, in their prime for ever.

    Lucy Mangan: RIP Golden Age of Hollywood Lucy Mangan 2010

  • Sandlers work is really much the thing to possibly adore or hate. we personally regard You Dont Mess With The Zohan as the misfortune film in celluloid history.

    Archive 2009-11-01 admin 2009

  • This morning I heard from Laurie Frost, author of The Elements of His Dark Materials, that another guide to Pullman's trilogy, The Rough Guide to His Dark Materials by Paul Simpson, cited that posting to support this statement: The story of Oz -- in celluloid and literary form -- has had a significant impact on Pullman's imagination.

    Archive 2008-03-01 2008

  • At the time, the arrangement of the atoms in celluloid was not known with certainty and only general conclusions could be drawn, but for the metals it had been determined previously by the use of

    G.P. Thomson - Nobel Lecture 1965

  • The biggest untouched property Marvel has yet to exploit on celluloid is Captain America – assuming you don’t consider the wretched films from the 80’s.

    Big Marvel/DC Film Updates for 2010 « Giant Killer Squid - Film, Comics, News, Reviews and more 2009

  • January 21st, 2008 at 6: 33 pm baedo says: perhaps the sexiest thing on video or celluloid is the ol’ tie-the-cherry-stem-into-a-knot that has become her defining clip, in my mind fantasy.

    EGGHEADS DISSECT BABIES 2008

  • Sparing us all the obligatory arguments about Ford “defining the American West” with his sweeping, desolate camera shots and Wayne’s anabashedly American Americanness, there’s just no denying that Ford and Wayne — tag team partners on more than 20 films — are simply one of the most prolific duos in celluloid history.

    Top 10 Actor / Director Tandems In Movie History | Best Week Ever 2007

  • They distinguish between the two, and they're not referring to celluloid or what something was shot on, they are merely contrasting what they find to be tasteful, artful, or simply thought-provoking, versus what they might label pure saccharin entertainment, intravenous movie Slurpee.

    Ashley Wren Collins: Seeking Cinematic Sustenance in a Saturated World Ashley Wren Collins 2011

  • They distinguish between the two, and they're not referring to celluloid or what something was shot on, they are merely contrasting what they find to be tasteful, artful, or simply thought-provoking, versus what they might label pure saccharin entertainment, intravenous movie Slurpee.

    Ashley Wren Collins: Seeking Cinematic Sustenance in a Saturated World Ashley Wren Collins 2011

Comments

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  • Originally a cotton-like substance called nitrocellulose, derived from cellulose (a natural material made from plant cells) and treated with sulfuric and nitric acids. Celluloid was discovered/developed in 1868 by John Wesley Hyatt (1837-1920), when he combined nitrocellulose with camphor and produced a colorless material he called celluloid, which was originally used as a substitute for ivory in products such as combs and billiard balls. Since it could also be produced in thin, clear sheets that were stronger and more flexible than paper, others began using it in photographic experiments. In 1887, Hannibal Goodwin (1822-1900) applied for a patent on photographic pellicle, which was essentially celluloid treated with an emulsion of light-sensitive chemicals. The following year, before Goodwin's patent was granted, an engineer in the employ of George Eastman applied for a patent on a similar material, and Eastman's Kodak company began using it in experiments to make motion pictures.

    Celluloid was/is highly flammable and deteriorates over time.

    March 7, 2007