neon lamp

American  

noun

1. a gas-discharge bulb containing two electrodes in neon gas and emitting a glow when a voltage is applied across the electrodes.

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neon lamp British  

noun

1. a glass bulb or tube containing neon at low pressure that gives a pink or red glow when a voltage is applied

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Etymology

Origin of neon lamp

First recorded in 1910–15

Example Sentences

Qualitatively describe the spectrum produced by passing light from a neon lamp through a prism.

From Textbooks • Feb. 14, 2019

In 1910, French inventor Georges Claude publicly displayed his first neon lamp, consisting of two 38-foot-long tubes, at the Paris Expo.

From Washington Times • Dec. 11, 2018

Herr Nipkow, a German, although he conceived the idea of the scanning disc 50 years ago, lacked the neon lamp, the radio amplifier, could not bring his invention to completion.

From Time Magazine Archive

Two years ago Christopher Coates, the New York Aquarium's inquisitive tropical fishman, slipped an electric eel into a hard-rubber trough with metallic contacts an inch apart, discovered that it could light a neon lamp.

From Time Magazine Archive

He is as animated as his enlarged signature, which glows from a custom-made neon lamp on the wall beside a Renaissance Madonna and a framed Islamic drawing.

From 100 New Yorkers of the 1970s by Millard, Max