langley

[ lang-lee ]

nounPhysics.
  1. for electromagnetic radiation incident upon a surface, a value of energy per unit area equal to one calorie per square centimeter.

Origin of langley

1
First recorded in 1945–50; after S. P. Langley

Other definitions for Langley (2 of 2)

Langley
[ lang-lee ]

noun
  1. Edmund of. York, 1st Duke of.

  2. Samuel Pier·pont [peer-pont], /ˈpɪər pɒnt/, 1834–1906, U.S. astronomer, physicist, and pioneer in aeronautics.

  1. a city in SW British Columbia, in SW Canada, near Vancouver.

  2. Mount, a mountain in E California, in the Sierra Nevada. 14,025 feet (4,280 meters).

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use langley in a sentence

  • Men read the story at their breakfast tables and said with a laugh,  Langleys folly indeed!

    Heroes of To-Day | Mary R. Parkman
  • Langleys folly is completely vindicated, and Samuel Pierpont langley is to-day numbered as chief among the many heroes of flight.

    Heroes of To-Day | Mary R. Parkman
  • Professor Langleys tests proved that the lantern of the fire-fly gives a cheaper form of light than is to be found anywhere else.

    Heroes of To-Day | Mary R. Parkman
  • The man knew all about the Langleys and was glad to tell the affable stranger.

  • After a time she would find he was not a guest of the Langleys.

British Dictionary definitions for Langley

Langley

/ (ˈlæŋlɪ) /


noun
  1. Samuel Pierpont. 1834–1906, US astronomer and physicist: invented the bolometer (1878) and pioneered the construction of heavier-than-air flying machines

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for langley

langley

[ lăng ]


  1. A unit equal to one gram calorie per square centimeter of irradiated surface, used to measure solar radiation. The langley is named after American astronomer and aeronautical pioneer Samuel Pierpont Langley (1834-1906).

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.