any of a number of substances that exhibit luminescence when struck by light of certain wavelengths, as by ultraviolet.
Literary. a phosphorescent substance.
Any of various substances that can emit light after absorbing some form of radiation. Television screens and fluorescent lamp tubes are coated on the inside with phosphors.
See Note at cathode-ray tube
1625–35; < French phosphore < Latin Phōsphorus Phosphor
First recorded in 1625–35; from Latin Phōsphorus, from Greek Phōsphóros “the morning star,” literally, “the light-bringing one,” equivalent to phôs “light” + -phoros “bringing”; see -phorous
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
While currently white light is achieved by phosphor down-conversion, LED color mixing actually has a higher theoretical maximum efficiency, which is needed in order to achieve the 2035 DOE energy efficiency goals.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 23, 2024
The phosphor technique is sound, says Ram Seshadri, a materials science professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
From Scientific American ● Sep. 27, 2023
A byproduct of private and industrial food consumption and processing, sludge and compost can replace some of the nitrogen and phosphor from synthetic fertilizers.
From Salon ● Sep. 29, 2022
For example, he says, CMI developed a red phosphor for fluorescent lighting that does not require rare europium.
From Science Magazine ● Aug. 11, 2021
Another long pause as they both peered at the gloom with her phosphor green paint lighting.
From "Ship Breaker" by Paolo Bacigalupi
Furthermore, one of the mobile developers in the Partners programme, Phosphor Games, is creating an action fantasy title named Horn, clearly aimed at the dedicated gaming audience.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 2, 2012
Phosphorus is known to enter into the composition of the human brain, and a trenchant German writer has exclaimed, “Ohne Phosphor, kein Gedanke.”
From The Voice of Science in Nineteenth-Century Literature Representative Prose and Verse by Various
Phosphor fires edged the keel; a trailing rope was revealed as a luminous streak.
From The Unknown Sea by Housman, Clemence
Lucifer and Phosphor have been our cats for the last ten years: Lucifer, entirely black, Phosphor, as yellow as saffron, a real golden fleece.
From Concerning Cats My Own and Some Others by Winslow, Helen M.
The ancients called it Lucifer and Phosphor when it shone as a morning star before sunrise, and Hesperus and Vesper when it became visible after sunset.
From The Astronomy of Milton's 'Paradise Lost' by Orchard, Thomas Nathaniel
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
