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Synonyms

klieg light

American  

noun

  1. a powerful type of arc light once widely used in motion-picture studios.


klieg light British  
/ kliːɡ /

noun

  1. an intense carbon-arc light used for illumination in producing films

"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 klieg light

1925–30, named after the brothers J. H. Kliegl (1869–1959) and Anton Kliegl (1872–1927), German-born American inventors; final l of Kliegl probably taken as initial l of light

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.

See Examples For:

Spectacle, the klieg light of the powerful since before even the ancient Olympics, is still more than capable of blinding us to the dark.

From Los Angeles Times Jul. 23, 2024

It always feels like if you take a bright light, like a klieg light, and the script is like an orange gel, okay, everything's orange.

From Salon Jan. 20, 2020

Film Streams at the Ruth Sokolof Theater, a two-screen venue in the Saddle Creek Records complex, shines a klieg light on foreign and independent films, documentaries, retrospectives and other non-kapow! fare.

From Washington Post Jun. 7, 2017

They'd done a video in our house – and everyone's equipment was there – there was a klieg light.

From The Guardian May 16, 2013

Opening night was marred when a klieg light became lodged in Mr. Hasselhoff’s chest hair, causing a small fire.

From New York Times Jan. 14, 2011

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