cold cathode
- noun
- /koʊld ˈkæθoʊd/
- Specialized
:
cátodo frío
- Cold cathode technology is used in various lamps and electronic displays.
- cold cathode fluorescent
Examples
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High-performance, economical controllers for Bayard-Alpert and cold cathode gauges, covering 10-11 torr to 1000 torr.
Academic text (1997) -
To this day, attempts continue to use the techniques developed in silicon technology to make miniaturized cold cathode devices for emission into a vacuum, especially for displays, but so far without much success.
Academic text (1997) -
Cold cathode tubes.
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Designs and manufactures a complete line of vacuum measurement and control instrumentation, including the new stand-alone, self-contained Magnetron Cold Cathode gauges.
Academic text (2004) -
In many devices, cold cathode lamps provide efficient illumination without generating heat.
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She replaced the old bulbs with cold cathode lights to save energy in her home.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is compositionally built from 'cold' (not heated) + 'cathode' (an electrode), so a learner who knows both constituents can infer it refers to a cathode that operates without heating. Although technical, the meaning is a straightforward combination of the parts and similar formulations exist cross-linguistically, making it interpretable to B1 learners familiar with the term 'cathode'.
Etymology
Cold cathode describes the phrase very literally: a cathode is the metal part in a lamp that sends out electrons and cold shows it does this without getting hot. So the term means 'a cathode that gives off electrons without being heated'.
