collodion

American  

[kuh-loh-dee-uhn] / kəˈloʊ di ən /

noun

1. a yellowish, viscous, highly flammable solution of pyroxylin in ether and alcohol: used in the manufacture of photographic film, in engraving and lithography, and in medicine chiefly for cementing dressings and sealing wounds.

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collodion British  

/ kəˈləʊdɪən /

noun

1. a colourless or yellow syrupy liquid that consists of a solution of pyroxylin in ether and alcohol: used in medicine and in the manufacture of photographic plates, lacquers, etc

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Etymology

Origin of collodion

1850–55; alteration of New Latin collodium < Greek kollṓd ( ēs ) glutinous ( kóll ( a ) glue + -ōdēs -ode ¹ ) + -ium -ium

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

collodion

By his twenties, he had mastered complex photographic techniques like the collodion process, enabling him to develop large-format glass plates under harsh conditions.

From BBC ● Feb. 8, 2025

The aspect ratio changes into a square format and the lensing feels reminiscent of 19th century wet plate collodion photography.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 13, 2022

In “My DNA,” he used collodion tintype, a laborious method of photography that was in vogue during the eighteen-fifties.

From The New Yorker ● Dec. 10, 2018

Using collodion negatives, a 19th-century medium, and antique lenses, she coaxed chance and accidents into her prints, reinforcing the sense of history and mimicking the random effects of war.

From New York Times ● Mar. 29, 2018

Although the Daguerreotype was most tenaciously adhered to as the best means of producing photographic portraits, the collodion process—or the “crystaltype,” as they then called it—was not neglected.

From The Evolution of Photography With a Chronological Record of Discoveries, Inventions, etc., Contributions to Photographic Literature, and Personal Reminescences Extending over Forty Years by John Werge

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