kerosene lamp
5
3.7
- noun
- /ˈkɛrəˌsin læmp/
:
lámpara de queroseno
- The glow of the kerosene lamp is visible through the windows.
- light from a kerosene lamp
Examples
-
Fireflies, kerosene lamps, and shooting stars were the only things that lit up the pitch-black evenings.
Fiction book (1995) -
Light one of the kerosene lamps, will you, honey?
-
Sam, look at this old kerosene lamp.
-
At night, she read to him by the light of a kerosene lamp.
Fiction book (1991) -
The only light I had was a kerosene lamp.
Fiction book (1999) -
The first room had nothing but a mattress and a kerosene lamp on the floor and some bowls next to it.
Fiction book (1995) -
The faint light of kerosene lamps threw shadows on the walls.
Academic text (2007) -
I took the matches from him, lit the kerosene lamp, and turned the wick up high.
Fiction book (1991) -
We'd see the light of his kerosene lamp flicker across the pasture and hear hammering far into the night.
Fiction book (1998) -
In the evening, we used the kerosene lamp to light our dining table.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
A device like a lamp or bulb that produces light
274
1.0
Something that gives light for a room or table
7
4.1
A lamp that burns oil to give light
A lamp that burns kerosene to give light
How Bright
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a lamp that produces light by burning kerosene' is directly and compositionally derived from 'kerosene' (a fuel) + 'lamp' (a light source), so a learner who knows both words can infer the combined meaning. This compound noun follows a straightforward noun–noun composition pattern common across languages and contains no idiomatic or metaphorical shift, making it immediately understandable to B1 learners who know the constituents.
Etymology
Kerosene lamp is a name for a lamp that uses kerosene, a liquid 'fuel' burned to make 'light'. Imagine a glass lamp with a wick soaked in kerosene that gives a steady flame, and that picture explains why the name means a lamp that runs on kerosene.