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lighthouse

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“

One cannot help but admire such order and neatness, for the lighthouse is a marvel of purity.

—Acadia or, A Month with the Blue Noses

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Definitions (5)

American Heritage Dictionary (1)

noun A tall structure topped by a powerful light used as a beacon or signal to aid marine navigation.

Century Dictionary (2)

A tower or other structure exhibiting a light or lights, for the purpose of indicating the presence of rocks, shoals, or other dangers to navigation, or for the guidance of mariners when approaching or sailing along a coast, entering a harbor, or navigating a river or other body of water. Lighthouses were formerly illuminated simply by means of a wood- or coal-fire, and afterward by candles and lamps. Coal-fires continued in general use till after the middle of the eighteenth century, and in some places many years later. The lamps in the lanterns of lighthouses in the United States are, for the most part, mechanical oil-lamps fitted with Argand burners, and employed with simple reflectors or with some form of the Fresnel lantern. Electric lighting has been tried in some lighthouses, but found objectionable on account of the depth of shadow produced by it in their immediate vicinity. In order that lighthouses may be distinguished by night, their lights vary in power, color, number, position, etc. As regards power, they are classified as of the first, second, third, or fourth order: the first two being employed in coast-lighthouses, and the others as sound-, harbor-, or river-lights. They may be fixed, revolving, flashing, or intermittent, in either single or combined colors: thus, a light may show two white flashes and a red flash followed by an interval of darkness, or the red and white flashes may alternate. These changes are obtained by various contrivances for causing the lenses, reflectors, or screens to travel in a circular path around the lamp, or to pass before it. Some lighthouses are painted with bands of color, or bear some other distinguishing mark, that their identity may be easily established in the daytime. They saw … The lamp-fire glimmer down from the tall lighthouse tower. Whittier, Tent on the Beach.
Lighthouse Board a board of commissioners attached to the Treasury Department of the United States government, having supervision of the lighthouse system of the United States. It consists of nine members: three civilians (the Secretary of the Treasury, the Superintendent of the Coast Survey, and a scientist), three naval officers, and three officers of the Corps of Engineers of the Army.

GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

WordNet (1)

Elsewhere on the web

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Examples

If the lighthouse is actually going to be the finale area of a new campaign (seems possible), I'm hoping that the escape will involve climbing the lighthouse, and the players having to maneuver up a ladder to a waiting blimp.
One cannot help but admire such order and neatness, for the lighthouse is a marvel of purity. — Acadia or, A Month with the Blue Noses
Even as the lighthouse was an upright shadow on the sky, this land seemed but a long black shadow on the sea. — Men, Women, and Boats
"Are you?" asked Connie's mother, looking surprised at Billie's eagerness, for the lighthouse was an old story to her. — Billie Bradley on Lighthouse Island The Mystery of the Wreck
Of course one of the most interesting points in the lighthouse was the lantern. — Personal Reminiscences in Book Making and Some Short Stories

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Used in the Same Context

pier · fortification · breakwater · edifice · windmill · spire · skyscraper · headland · anchorage · chateau · citadel · harbor

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/ˈlaɪthaʊs/

by American Heritage

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