daguerreotype

American  

[duh-gair-uh-tahyp, -ee-uh-tahyp] / dəˈgɛər əˌtaɪp, -i əˌtaɪp /

noun

1. an obsolete photographic process, invented in 1839, in which a picture made on a silver surface sensitized with iodine was developed by exposure to mercury vapor.

2. a picture made by this process.

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verb (used with object)

daguerreotyped, daguerreotyping

1. to photograph by this process.

daguerreotype British  

/ dəˈɡɛrəʊˌtaɪp /

noun

1. one of the earliest photographic processes, in which the image was produced on iodine-sensitized silver and developed in mercury vapour

2. a photograph formed by this process

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Other Word Forms

• daguerreotyper
  noun
• daguerreotypist
  noun
• daguerreotypy
  noun
• daguerreotypic
  adjective

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Etymology

Origin of daguerreotype

1830–40; named after L. J. M. Daguerre; see -o-, -type

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Explanation

An old-fashioned black-and-white photograph with a shiny, almost mirror-like surface is a daguerreotype. The daguerreotype was named for its inventor, Louis Daguerre, known as one of the fathers of photography. Daguerre's 1837 process involved using a sheet of copper that was coated with a thin layer of silver and needed just 20 minutes of exposure; it replaced an earlier method that required eight hours to produce an image. Less expensive types of photography made the daguerreotype obsolete within 20 years, and today they're extremely rare.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

daguerreotype daguerreotyped daguerreotyping

The detail that the average person takes 450 selfies a year is powerful, especially when contextualized against their disposability—compared, for example, with the daguerreotype.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026

Henrich, an early adopter of daguerreotype cameras, shoots photographs of women posing with skulls like he’s paving the way for Del Toro’s whole filmography.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2025

The Franklin explorers brought their daguerreotype camera with them.

From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2023

“A descendant of someone whose likeness is reproduced in a daguerreotype would not therefore inherit any property right to that daguerreotype,” the high court wrote in its ruling.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 23, 2022

It was a daguerreotype of a man and a woman.

From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan

It is a sight to be daguerreotyped upon the heart.

From Flora Lyndsay or, Passages in an Eventful Life by Susanna Moodie

The portraits of half a dozen children were daguerreotyped on my soul as I looked at one.

From The Puddleford Papers, Or Humors of the West by H. H. Riley

My fertile imagination daguerreotyped a great family picture, in which I was shortly to fill a most lamentable part.

From The Dodd Family Abroad, Vol. II by Charles James Lever

One would think the old lady must have sat at least a year, till he had daguerreotyped every wrinkle and twinkle.

From Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands, Volume 2 by Harriet Beecher Stowe

I've got some of his stuff up in the hut: rather academic, the kind daguerreotyped young men with high stocks used to study by one candle.

From Old Crow by Alice Brown

We are only roughly daguerreotyping the man as he appeared, preparatory to one terrible incident which made him an important character in this narration.

From The Coward A Novel of Society and the Field in 1863 by Henry Morford

The discovery of the daguerreotyping process was announced in January, 1839.

From Great Inventions and Discoveries by Willis Duff Piercy

In some intense moods of mind, it seems as if every sunbeam had daguerreotyping power, and memory the preparedness to receive and retain.

From Daisy in the Field by Susan Warner

With returning consciousness came the quickened perception which sometimes follows a slight concussion of the brain, daguerreotyping upon my mind each individual of these fiery ranks, in vivid, even painful clearness.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 10, No. 57, July, 1862 by Various

"Jessie Brown" and "The Poor of New York," and other plays directly daguerreotyping ordinary incidents, at any rate show that the drama is an art that responds instantly to the pulses of the time.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 05, No. 32, June, 1860 by Various

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