lamp

[ lamp ]

noun

1. any of various devices furnishing artificial light, as by electricity or gas. Compare fluorescent lamp, incandescent lamp.
2. a container for an inflammable liquid, as oil, which is burned at a wick as a means of illumination.
3. a source of intellectual or spiritual light:

   the lamp of learning.

4. any of various devices furnishing heat, ultraviolet, or other radiation:

   an infrared lamp.

5. a celestial body that gives off light, as the moon or a star.
6. a torch.
7. lamps, Slang. the eyes.

verb (used with object)

1. Slang. to look at; eye.

lamp

/ læmp /

noun

1. 1. any of a number of devices that produce illumination

      a gas lamp

      an electric lamp

      an oil lamp

   2. ( in combination )

      lampshade

2. a device for holding one or more electric light bulbs

   a table lamp

3. a vessel in which a liquid fuel is burned to supply illumination
4. any of a variety of devices that produce radiation, esp for therapeutic purposes

   an ultraviolet lamp

Other Words From

• lampless adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of lamp¹

1150–1200; Middle English lampe < Old French < Late Latin lampada, for Latin lampas (stem lampad- ) < Greek lampás lamp; akin to lámpē torch, lamp, lámpein to shine

Word History and Origins

Origin of lamp¹

C13 lampe, via Old French from Latin lampas, from Greek, from lampein to shine

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. smell of the lamp, to give evidence of laborious study or effort:

   His dissertation smells of the lamp.

Example Sentences

The tablet is propped up in a cozy-looking bedroom next to a lava lamp, a mascara tube and a framed portrait of the girl and her dog.

From Los Angeles Times

Also, there’s a lamp in your bath — which is original too, which is amazing.

From Los Angeles Times

Hofsø shines an angle-poised lamp in his face, and shows him photos of disabled people looking sad and lonely.

From BBC

A photograph taken a year back shows a family lighting a lamp before a framed picture of Kanwar and her husband, placed under a small brick structure draped with a red and gold scarf.

From BBC

Surely I was in for many nights of taking in the wonder of a rapidly shimmering ectoplasm-green alien lava lamp.

From Slate

Related Words

• flashlight
• light