lamp

American  

[lamp] / læmp /

noun

1. any of various devices furnishing artificial light, as by electricity or gas.

2. a container for an inflammable liquid, as oil, which is burned at a wick as a means of illumination.

3. a source of intellectual or spiritual light.

   the lamp of learning.

4. any of various devices furnishing heat, ultraviolet, or other radiation.

   an infrared lamp.

5. a celestial body that gives off light, as the moon or a star.

6. a torch.

7. Slang. lamps, the eyes.

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verb (used with object)

1. Slang. to look at; eye.

idioms

1. smell of the lamp, to give evidence of laborious study or effort.

   His dissertation smells of the lamp.

lamp British  

/ læmp /

noun

1. 1. any of a number of devices that produce illumination

      an electric lamp

      a gas lamp

      an oil lamp

   2. ( in combination )

      lampshade

2. a device for holding one or more electric light bulbs

   a table lamp

3. a vessel in which a liquid fuel is burned to supply illumination

4. any of a variety of devices that produce radiation, esp for therapeutic purposes

   an ultraviolet lamp

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Other Word Forms

• lampless adjective

Etymology

Origin of lamp

1150–1200; Middle English lampe < Old French < Late Latin lampada, for Latin lampas (stem lampad- ) < Greek lampás lamp; akin to lámpē torch, lamp, lámpein to shine

Example Sentences

That’s not what she said that time I broke a lamp playing Nerf football in the house.

From Literature

She switched on the lamp and checked the e-mail.

From Literature

Parents supplied heat lamps in the dugout to deal with the temperature in the 50s.

From Los Angeles Times

"Instead I use lamps with £5 colour-changing light bulbs. I go for deep orange or warm red and it looks so much cosier."

From BBC

State Department has sent two shipments amounting to $9 million in assistance in recent weeks, including canned tuna, rice, beans, pasta, and solar lamps to allow Cubans to charge their phones.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• flashlight
• light