Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun An often portable case with transparent or translucent sides for holding and protecting a light.
- noun A decorative casing for a light, often of paper.
- noun A light and its protective or decorative case.
- noun The room at the top of a lighthouse where the light is located.
- noun Obsolete A lighthouse.
- noun A structure built on top of a roof or dome with open or windowed walls to admit light and air.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The misshapen proboscis (formerly supposed to be luminous) of many tropical Fulgoridæ or so-called ‘lantern-flies.’
- noun A case, generally transparent or translucent, inclosing a light and protecting it from the wind and rain, and either portable or fixed.
- noun The glass casing surrounding the lamp of a lighthouse and forming the upper member of the structure.
- noun In architecture, specifically, an upright skylight in the roof of a building.
- noun In the quadrant electrometer, the part of the case of the instrument which surrounds the mirror and suspension-fibers.
- noun A device for inclosing fabrics in the process of dyeing, to fix the colors by the aid of steam.
- noun A workmen's name for a short perforated core used in making hollow castings.
- noun A kind of cog-wheel. See
lantern-wheel . - noun The whiff, a fish, which is semi-transparent when held up against the light.
- noun The Trigla obscura, a fish of the subfamily Triglinæ. Also called
lantern-gurnard . - To furnish with a lantern; light as by means of a lantern: as, to
lantern a lighthouse. - To put to death by hanging to a lamp-post (French lanterne): a frequent incident during the first French revolution.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Something inclosing a light, and protecting it from wind, rain, etc.; -- sometimes portable, as a closed vessel or case of horn, perforated tin, glass, oiled paper, or other material, having a lamp or candle within; sometimes fixed, as the glazed inclosure of a street light, or of a lighthouse light.
- noun An open structure of light material set upon a roof, to give light and air to the interior.
- noun A cage or open chamber of rich architecture, open below into the building or tower which it crowns.
- noun A smaller and secondary cupola crowning a larger one, for ornament, or to admit light; such as the lantern of the cupola of the Capitol at Washington, or that of the Florence cathedral.
- noun (Mach.) A lantern pinion or trundle wheel. See Lantern pinion (below).
- noun (Steam Engine) A kind of cage inserted in a stuffing box and surrounding a piston rod, to separate the packing into two parts and form a chamber between for the reception of steam, etc.; -- called also
lantern brass . - noun (Founding) A perforated barrel to form a core upon.
- noun (Zoöl.) See
Aristotle's lantern . - noun a lantern with a single opening, which may be closed so as to conceal the light; -- called also
bull's-eye . - noun long, thin jaws; hence, a thin visage.
- noun (Mach.) a kind of pinion or wheel having cylindrical bars or trundles, instead of teeth, inserted at their ends in two parallel disks or plates; -- so called as resembling a lantern in shape; -- called also
wallower , ortrundle . - noun (Zoöl.) any translucent, marine, bivalve shell of the genus
Anatina , and allied genera. - noun an optical instrument consisting of a case inclosing a light, and having suitable lenses in a lateral tube, for throwing upon a screen, in a darkened room or the like, greatly magnified pictures from slides placed in the focus of the outer lens.
- transitive verb To furnish with a lantern.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A case of
translucent ortransparent material made to protect a flame, or light, used toilluminate its surroundings. - verb transitive To furnish with a lantern.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun light in a transparent protective case
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
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Examples
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Imagine scouts scouring the woods with a lantern -- with a _lantern_, Renny!
In the Midst of Alarms Robert Barr 1881
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Ignoring his role and starting with another lantern is just silly.
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“Tá álík” = hanging lamps, often in lantern shape with coloured glass and profuse ornamentation; the Maroccan are now familiar to
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After the show there was a traditional Chinese game called lantern-riddles.
WILD SWANS THREE DAUGHTERS OF CHINA CHANG, JUNG 1991
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I snatched a lantern from the wall, lighted it, and followed.
Further Chronicles of Avonlea Lucy Maud 1920
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It's what an engine whistle or the swing of a lantern is to us trainmen, and I'm glad our boys play at something so sensible.
The Shagganappi 1913
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Taking down a lantern from a nail by the door, he went out, as was his nightly habit, to look at his grey mare Hannah.
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Science employs the same term: it calls the lantern-bearer, _Lampyris noctiluca_, LIN.
The Glow-Worm and Other Beetles Jean-Henri Fabre 1869
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I stayed only an hour, but did manage to find one treasure: a 19th-century gold gilt and mesh petite hanging lantern from a French church.
Paris Parfait 2009
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I stayed only an hour, but did manage to find one treasure: a 19th-century gold gilt and mesh petite hanging lantern from a French church.
Paris Parfait 2009
bilby commented on the word lantern
I do not resemble your other lovers, my lady
should another give you a cloud
I give you rain
Should he give you a lantern, I
will give you the moon
Should he give you a branch
I will give you the trees
And if another gives you a ship
I shall give you the journey.
- Nizar Qabbani, 'Love Compared'.
November 10, 2008