mercury-vapour lamp

noun

a lamp in which an electric discharge through a low pressure of mercury vapour is used to produce a greenish-blue light. It is used for street lighting and is also a source of ultraviolet radiation

Discover More

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.

The electric arc was not so effective, but the electric light of the mercury-vapour lamp, though causing little change at the first, after a few hours' exposure rapidly bleached certain of the colours, whilst having no effect on others.