enlarger

American

[en-lahr-jer] / ɛnˈlɑr dʒər /

noun

Photography.

an apparatus used for making projection prints, having a head for holding, illuminating, and projecting a film negative and a bed for holding a sheet of sensitized printing paper.

enlarger British

/ ɪnˈlɑːdʒə /

noun

an optical instrument for making enlarged photographic prints in which a negative is brightly illuminated and its enlarged image is focused onto a sheet of sensitized paper

"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

Etymology

Origin of enlarger

1535–45, for an earlier sense; enlarge + -er ¹

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.

But we had an enlarger to print — which actually became your room later.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 19, 2024

A bathroom has been transformed into a darkroom, complete with a custom-made Leitz enlarger and a fibre print washer installed in the claw-foot tub.

From The New Yorker • Jun. 13, 2019

Once you have a decent negative, you can slap it in an enlarger and print it countless different ways.

From Washington Post • Mar. 19, 2017

Kinsler also uses an enlarger and subscribes to the Illinois Radio Reader Service, which sends, for free, tapes that feature a variety of information, including newspapers articles.

From Washington Times • Feb. 26, 2017

Fadi now adjusted the knobs on the enlarger, bringing the image into focus.

From "Shooting Kabul" by N. H. Senzai

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023