enlarger

American  

[en-lahr-jer] / ɛnˈlɑr dʒər /

noun

Photography.

1. an apparatus used for making projection prints, having a head for holding, illuminating, and projecting a film negative and a bed for holding a sheet of sensitized printing paper.

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enlarger British  

/ ɪnˈlɑːdʒə /

noun

1. an optical instrument for making enlarged photographic prints in which a negative is brightly illuminated and its enlarged image is focused onto a sheet of sensitized paper

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Etymology

Origin of enlarger

1535–45, for an earlier sense; enlarge + -er ¹

Example Sentences

But we had an enlarger to print — which actually became your room later.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 19, 2024

Working in his darkroom with as many as seven enlargers, each holding a different negative, Mr. Uelsmann moved a sheet of photographic paper from enlarger to enlarger.

From New York Times • Apr. 13, 2022

In his studio, with a photo enlarger in the corner and an orange tree outside the window, his stacks of albums show the stadium lights Escobar installed for soccer fields in working-class neighborhoods.

From Washington Post • Dec. 28, 2021

A bathroom has been transformed into a darkroom, complete with a custom-made Leitz enlarger and a fibre print washer installed in the claw-foot tub.

From The New Yorker • Jun. 13, 2019

As she fiddled with the enlarger, Fadi carried the photo paper over to the “wet” area of the darkroom.

From "Shooting Kabul" by N. H. Senzai