celluloid
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.
motion-picture film: He was an intense director and a scrupulous editor, famous for leaving piles of celluloid on the cutting-room floor.
Informal. of or involving motion pictures: a star of the stage who was never lured into the celluloid industry.
Origin of celluloid
1Words Nearby celluloid
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use celluloid in a sentence
In the most crowd-pleasing section of the exhibition—dubbed Stage and Screen—hang his pictures of celluloid legends.
How Horst Captured Dietrich, Rita Hayworth, and Vivien Leigh—and Changed Fashion Photography | Patrick Strudwick | September 8, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST“Everyone could see their love right there on celluloid,” added their son, Stephen Bogart.
Of course, a great literary work does not a great film make—if it did, Shakespeare would need merely to be slathered on celluloid.
‘The Trial’ & More Top Film Adaptations of Literary Classics (VIDEO) | Jimmy So | November 24, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTOn celluloid, similar fates have been met—sometimes even worse.
Will ‘Avatar’ Actress Zoe Saldana Play Legendary Singer Nina Simone? | Karu F. Daniels | August 23, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTIn her hands, celluloid comes off as a medium that allows for old-fashioned rumination, with some of the slowness of oil paint.
Tacita Dean’s ‘Five Americans’ Captures a Quiet Brilliance | Blake Gopnik | May 7, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST
Real celluloid ivory combs, fit for the President's wife, sure enough.
Narcissa, or the Road to Rome | Laura E. RichardsNo high gloss to look like celluloid or Paper Collars, but a nice medium finish that has all the appearance of new work.
My Pet Recipes, Tried and True | VariousThe front of the box is provided with a handle and a celluloid label for the name of the contained medium.
The Elements of Bacteriological Technique | John William Henry EyreThen he sat down and pulled out his mothers celluloid memorandum tablets.
Winona of the Camp Fire | Margaret WiddemerJust behind the nervous young man with the celluloid collar sat a stout individual with a bald head.
Cap'n Eri | Joseph Crosby Lincoln
British Dictionary definitions for celluloid
/ (ˈsɛljʊˌlɔɪd) /
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
a cellulose derivative used for coating film
one of the transparent sheets on which the constituent drawings of an animated film are prepared
a transparent sheet used as an overlay in artwork
cinema film
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
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