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

Etymology

Origin of daguerreotype

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

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

He notes that Capt Crozier was the only crew member from HMS Terror to be photographed and that this daguerreotype is the only known original photograph of him in existence.

From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2023

“There is a slumped weariness in his expression,” Semtner said of the last photograph taken of Poe, a sixth-plate tintype based on a daguerreotype.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 11, 2022

Melquíades was the only one who really was concerned with him as he made him listen to his incomprehensible texts and gave him lessons in the art of daguerreotype.

From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

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

Members of both Houses will be, of course, daguerreotyped for the use of the morning papers; and photographic likenesses of the leaders of ton be supplied gratis to the leaders of the press.

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 55, No. 339, January, 1844 by Various

His image, daguerreotyped on her heart, no light breath could dim.

From The Good Time Coming by T. S. (Timothy Shay) Arthur

In the latter, that life appears as if daguerreotyped: the outlines are studiously correct, but all is depicted in sad, sombre colours; the golden tints and harmonising colours of the promised land are lacking.

From The Prose Writings of Heinrich Heine by Heinrich Heine

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

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

Indeed, his faculty for daguerreotyping such things upon his mind, was wonderful.

From Paris: With Pen and Pencil Its People and Literature, Its Life and Business by David W. Bartlett

"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

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

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