daguerreotype
Americannoun
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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.
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a picture made by this process.
verb (used with object)
noun
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one of the earliest photographic processes, in which the image was produced on iodine-sensitized silver and developed in mercury vapour
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a photograph formed by this process
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of daguerreotype
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.
Vocabulary lists containing daguerreotype
Art History
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Pony
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
I was Grace Kelly and that nameless bride in the antique store daguerreotype and every woman who has ever been married wearing anything at all.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 5, 2024
It was a daguerreotype, an image imprinted on a sheet of silver-plated copper coated in light-sensitive chemicals.
From Seattle Times • Jan. 22, 2024
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
In the family daguerreotype, the only one that ever existed, Aureliano appeared dressed in black velvet between Amaranta and Rebeca.
From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
