celluloid

[ sel-yuh-loid ]

noun

1. a tough, highly flammable substance consisting essentially of nitrocellulose and camphor: once used in the manufacture of motion-picture and x-ray film, it is now used in a limited line of other products, including guitar picks, musical instruments, and table tennis balls.
2. motion-picture film:

   He was an intense director and a scrupulous editor, famous for leaving piles of celluloid on the cutting-room floor.

adjective

1. Informal. of or involving motion pictures:

   a star of the stage who was never lured into the celluloid industry.

celluloid

/ ˈsɛljʊˌlɔɪd /

noun

1. a flammable thermoplastic material consisting of cellulose nitrate mixed with a plasticizer, usually camphor: used in sheets, rods, and tubes for making a wide range of articles
2. 1. a cellulose derivative used for coating film
   2. one of the transparent sheets on which the constituent drawings of an animated film are prepared
   3. a transparent sheet used as an overlay in artwork
   4. cinema film

Word History and Origins

Origin of celluloid¹

First recorded in 1870–75; cellul(ose) + -oid; formerly a trademark

Example Sentences

But as the authors show in this 240-page book, women like Louise Brooks, Ida Lupino and Katharine Hepburn blew through the celluloid ceiling and lifted up generations of women in the movies.

From Los Angeles Times

The opening lines to the Kinks’ classic song “Celluloid Heroes,” about the ephemeral nature of fame, comes to mind when watching Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance,” a body-horror film that manages to be both primal and compassionate, bludgeoning and insightful.

From Los Angeles Times

On the con side of the balance sheet are two understandable sops to modern moviemaking: the flatness of digital cinematography and transparent artificiality of CGI bloodletting, neither of which can compare to the earlier films’ epic squib work and what real celluloid can do for the heightened drama of slo-mo craziness.

From Los Angeles Times

Singer demonstrates himself to be a mad scientist of celluloid sensation, creating a hybridized monster of influences, images, sounds and emotions that you won’t soon forget.

From Los Angeles Times

Nor will films where the acceptance of queer people is premised on “the notion that they are just like everyone else,” as Vito Russo put it in his 1987 book “The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies.”

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• cinema
• feature
• film
• flick
• motion picture
• picture
• show
• videotape