Bunsen burner
4
3.5
- noun
- /ˈbʌnsən ˈbɜrnər/
- Specialized
:
mechero Bunsen
- A medium-sized laboratory, where 5 F.B.I. technicians are bent over tables of beakers, test tubes, Bunsen burners, etc.
- beakers and Bunsen burner
- test tubes and Bunsen burner
- light a Bunsen burner
Examples
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A Bunsen burner rested in a corner, unlit.
Blog text (7) -
Juno, do you want to plug in the Bunsen burner?
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So, then she asked me to light her Bunsen burner.
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Alan, will you light my Bunsen burner?
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There's another important tool, the Bunsen burner, right?
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I could tell he was right on the brink of a major reaction, so I turned up his Bunsen burner.
Fiction book (2001) -
The Bunsen burner was invented, however, in 1854 when Bunsen discovered that a certain mixture of coal gas and air could produce a smokeless flame of intense heat.
Academic text (1993) -
I didn't even realize I'd turned into the serology lab until my eyes were suddenly focusing on black countertops cluttered with beakers, test tubes, and Bunsen burners.
Fiction book (1990) -
The scientist adjusted the air valve on the Bunsen burner to control the size of the flame.
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During the experiment, she heated the solution using a Bunsen burner in the chemistry lab.
Synonyms
1
2.3
A tool that makes a steady flame to cook or heat things
A small gas burner used in labs with a valve to control the flame
How Hot
Surface Forms
Morphology
Bunsen + burner
The constituent 'burner' clearly signals a device that produces heat, so a learner can infer this is a type of burner; however 'Bunsen' is an eponym/proper name and does not transparently add compositional meaning about gas, an air valve, or laboratory use. The term is therefore only partially predictable—learners can guess it's a specific kind of burner (often in scientific contexts) but would not derive the precise technical meaning without prior exposure.
Etymology
Bunsen burner is named after a scientist called Robert Bunsen, who helped design a simple metal tube and valve that made a steady, hot gas flame for lab work. Because burner says it makes a flame, the name stuck and now means 'the small gas burner used for heating in experiments'.