glow lamp

American  

noun

Electronics.

1. a vacuum tube containing a gas that is ionized by the electrons, giving a visible glow.

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glow lamp British  

noun

1. a small light consisting of two or more electrodes in an inert gas, such as neon, at low pressure, across which an electrical discharge occurs when the voltage applied to the electrodes exceeds the ionization potential

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Etymology

Origin of glow lamp

First recorded in 1880–85

Example Sentences

I entered the studio and shut the door behind me; but to my astonishment, I perceived Mr. Cavanagh, seated in a deep saddle-bag chair beneath an immense arc glow lamp, fast asleep.

From First Person Paramount by Pratt, Ambrose

One conspicuous addition, however, was an object illuminated by the small glow lamp that had attracted her attention.

From In the Clutch of the War-God by Hastings, Milo M. (Milo Milton)

In the preceding description of what is occurring in an electric glow lamp, I have spoken only of those æther waves which constitute light.

From Autobiography of an Electron Wherein the Scientific Ideas of the Present Time Are Explained in an Interesting and Novel Fashion by Gibson, Charles R. (Charles Robert)

The steward came again, peeping through his curtain, and said, “Plymouth, sir!” and turned on the glow lamp, for it was not yet dawn.

From The Sea and the Jungle by Tomlinson, H. M. (Henry Major)

But there are myriads of electrons in the carbon of the glow lamp that never attain the requisite speed to produce those waves; they revolve around their atoms at too slow a rate.

From Autobiography of an Electron Wherein the Scientific Ideas of the Present Time Are Explained in an Interesting and Novel Fashion by Gibson, Charles R. (Charles Robert)