arc lamp
1
5.3
- noun
- /ɑrk læmp/
- Archaic
:
lámpara de arco
- The arc lamp illuminated the entire stadium with its bright, white light during the night game.
- light of an arc lamp
- carbon arc lamp
Examples
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Scientists use the arc lamp in the lab to produce intense light for experiments.
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First of all, over here we have an arc lamp which is going to make a plasma.
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So from this single source of light S this sodium arc lamp, half the light will pass through like it just sees a clear window.
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To perform in the glare of arc lamps while simultaneously meeting the demands of the microphone is a test performance of the highest order.
Academic text (2016) -
Ten stories below his balcony, huge arc lamps light up a road repair crew as they shatter the pavement with jackhammers.
Fiction book (1996) -
This was our first ten minutes, and my mouth clogged with the thick choking clouds we kicked up as we moved along with only the faint glow of arc lamps at the far end.
Fiction book (1996) -
There is light to see: the tips of the peaks behind us blaze like distant arc lamps and fill the bowl of Chao Meng Fu with a ghostly kind of moonlight.
Fiction book (1997) -
In the school parking lot, the arc lamp's cone of light seethes with winged insects, swirling, bumping, a luminous feast that the nighthawks scoop through.
Fiction book (2000) -
As the sun set, the old street was lit by an arc lamp, casting long shadows on the pavement.
Synonyms
274
1.0
Something that gives light for a room or table
1
8.1
A lamp that makes very bright light when electricity jumps between two metal rods
1
1.7
A light that uses electricity to shine
1
6.7
A lamp that makes light when electricity passes between two metal points inside a gas
A lamp that makes light by passing electricity between two metal parts inside a glass tube
A lamp that makes light when electricity passes through gas in a glass tube
How Bright
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a lamp that emits light by an electric arc' is directly derivable from combining 'arc' (an electric discharge that creates light) and 'lamp' (a light source). This noun–noun compound is compositional and non-idiomatic, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents should readily infer the MWE meaning despite its technical nature.
Etymology
The name arc lamp comes from the bright arc of light that jumps between two rods inside the lamp. That's why arc lamp means a lamp that makes light by an electric arc.