cathode ray

American  

noun

1. a flow of electrons emanating from a cathode in a vacuum tube and focused into a narrow beam.

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cathode ray Scientific  

1. A beam of electrons streaming from the negatively charged end of a vacuum tube (the cathode) toward a positively charged plate (the anode).

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Etymology

Origin of cathode ray

First recorded in 1875–80

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cathode ray

“It’ll come sooner,” he said, standing between the computers controlling the sluice gates and an old cathode ray tube TV set.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 30, 2021

The balloons float off, the streamers fly and the wide eyes of the world revel in the cathode ray tube’s sanctimony.

From New York Times ● Jul. 15, 2019

Thomson’s cathode ray tube showed that atoms contain small, negatively charged particles called electrons.

From Textbooks ● Feb. 14, 2019

The facility stores waste such as household appliances and cathode ray tubes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 15, 2016

They had discovered the X ray, the cathode ray, the electron, and radioactivity, invented the ohm, the watt, the Kelvin, the joule, the amp, and the little erg.

From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson