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definitions

camera

1
[kam-er-uh, kam-ruh]
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noun,

a device for capturing a photographic image or recording a video, using film or digital memory.
(in a television transmitting apparatus) the device in which the picture to be televised is formed before it is changed into electric impulses.

adjective

Printing. camera-ready.

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RELATED WORDS

camcorder, Polaroid, Kodak

Nearby words

  1. camembert,
  2. camenae,
  3. cameo,
  4. cameo glass,
  5. cameo ware,
  6. camera lucida,
  7. camera obscura,
  8. camera phone,
  9. camera tube,
  10. camera-ready

Idioms

    off camera,
    1. out of the range of a video camera, as a television or motion picture camera: The stunt woman was waiting just off camera for her cue to enter the scene.
    2. (of an actor) in one’s private rather than professional life: The two co-stars are best friends off camera.
    on camera, being filmed or televised by a live camera: Be sure to look alert when you are on camera.

Origin of camera

1
1730–35; shortening of camera obscura; 1840-45 for def 1; utimately < Latin camera vaulted room, vault; see camera2

camera

2
[kam-er-uh]

noun, plural cam·er·ae [kam-uh-ree] /ˈkæm ə ri/.

a judge's private office.

Origin of camera

2
1630–40; for earlier sense “vaulted room” < Latin < Greek kamára vault; see chamber
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for camera

British Dictionary definitions for camera

camera

noun

an optical device consisting of a lens system set in a light-proof construction inside which a light-sensitive film or plate can be positionedSee also cine camera, digital camera
television the equipment used to convert the optical image of a scene into the corresponding electrical signals
See camera obscura
plural -erae (-əˌriː) a judge's private room
in camera
  1. lawrelating to a hearing from which members of the public are excluded
  2. in private
off camera not within an area being filmed
on camera (esp of an actor) being filmed

Word Origin for camera

C18: from Latin: vault, from Greek kamara
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
Word Origin and History for camera

camera

n.

1708, "vaulted building," from Latin camera "vaulted room" (source of Italian camera, Spanish camara, French chambre), from Greek kamara "vaulted chamber."

The word also was used early 18c. as a short form of Modern Latin camera obscura "dark chamber" (a black box with a lens that could project images of external objects), contrasted with camera lucida (Latin for "light chamber"), which uses prisms to produce on paper beneath the instrument an image, which can be traced. It became the word for "picture-taking device" when modern photography began, c.1840 (extended to television filming devices 1928). Camera-shy is attested from 1890. Old Church Slavonic komora, Lithuanian kamara, Old Irish camra all are borrowings from Latin.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Medicine definitions for camera

camera

[kăm′ər-ə, kăm′rə]

n. pl. cam•er•ae (-ə-rē)

A chamber or cavity, such as one of the chambers of the heart or eye.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.