riding lamp
- noun
- Specialized
:
lámpara de ancla
- The crew hung a riding lamp to ensure the anchored ship was visible through the fog.
Examples
-
Every vessel at anchor is required to display a riding lamp overnight for safety.
-
The old riding lamp swayed gently in the breeze, casting light across the deck.
-
The ship displayed a riding lamp to signal its position.
-
Many vessels use a riding lamp during the night.
-
Every vessel at anchor is required to display a riding lamp overnight for safety.
-
The crew hung a riding lamp to ensure the anchored ship was visible through the fog.
-
The old riding lamp swayed gently in the breeze, casting light across the deck.
Synonyms
A light on a ship that is anchored to make it visible at night
A white light on a boat that shows it is stopped at anchor
How Bright
15
3.9
66
4.3
- Specialized
274
1.0
113
1.0
451
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun 'riding lamp' is compositionally built from 'riding' (being carried/supported by the ship) + 'lamp' (a source of light), so a learner who knows those words can infer it is a lamp carried or hung on a ship to mark its position. Although the term is nautical and specifies placement in the rigging, the overall meaning is transparently derived from the constituents and thus predictable to a B1 learner.
Etymology
The noun riding lamp comes from small lamps hung in the ropes of a ship when it was at anchor. Because the light seemed to ride on the ropes and helped 'show where the ship was at night', the name came to mean a lamp that marks an anchored ship.