camera

¹

[kam-er-uh, kam-ruh]

noun

1. a device for capturing a photographic image or recording a video, using film or digital memory.

2. (in a television transmitting apparatus) the device in which the picture to be televised is formed before it is changed into electric impulses.

adjective

1. Printing.,  camera-ready.

camera

²

[kam-er-uh]

noun

plural

camerae 

1. a judge's private office.

camera

/ ˈkæmrə, ˈkæmərə /

noun

1. an optical device consisting of a lens system set in a light-proof construction inside which a light-sensitive film or plate can be positioned See also cine camera digital camera

2. television the equipment used to convert the optical image of a scene into the corresponding electrical signals

3. See camera obscura

4. a judge's private room

5. 1. law relating to a hearing from which members of the public are excluded

   2. in private

6. not within an area being filmed

7. (esp of an actor) being filmed

Word History and Origins

Origin of camera¹

First recorded in 1730–40; shortening of camera obscura ( def. ); 1840-45 camera ¹ for def. 1; utimately from Latin camera “vaulted room, vault”; see camera ² ( def. )

Origin of camera²

First recorded in 1630–40; for earlier sense “vaulted room,” from Latin, from Greek kamára “vault, vaulted room”; see chamber ( def. )

Word History and Origins

Origin of camera¹

C18: from Latin: vault, from Greek kamara

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. on camera, being filmed or televised by a live camera.

   Be sure to look alert when you are on camera.

2. 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.

3. in camera,

   1. Law. in the privacy of a judge's chambers.

   2. privately.

Example Sentences

Protesters jeered as he walked by, following him with their phone cameras as he pointed his own camera back at them.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Both orbiters used their onboard cameras to track the comet's motion.

Read more on Science Daily

Vacherot then continued the winner's tradition of writing a message on one of the courtside cameras, writing "Grandpa and Grandma would be proud".

Read more on BBC

I looked into my phone’s camera, moved my head around and spoke aloud the three numbers that appeared on screen.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Troop rotations are now only carried out on foot, in ten-kilometre segments, while soldiers wear special cover to evade the drones' thermal imaging cameras.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• camcorder