Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An electronic device that restricts current flow chiefly to one direction.
  • noun An electron tube with a cathode and anode.
  • noun A two-terminal semiconductor device used chiefly as a rectifier.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Of two ways; in elect. teleg., same as duplex.
  • noun In botany, the rudimentary or transition body in vascular plants which develops into the prothallium.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An electronic device that allows current to flow in one direction only; a valve.
  • noun A two-terminal semiconductor device, having a p-n junction, used chiefly as a rectifier.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a thermionic tube having two electrodes; used as a rectifier
  • noun a semiconductor that consists of a p-n junction

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Learned formation, coined by William Eccles in 1919, after Greek δίοδος.

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Examples

  • The evil geniuses* at Wicked Lasers have weaponized a laser for the consumer market by simply (?) rejiggering an unreasonably-powerful blue laser diode from a home theater projector and placing it in a lightsaber casing.

    No Way This Can Go Wrong: An Affordable, Real-Life Lightsaber 2010

  • Otellini compared the Obama administration to a "diode" -- an electronic device that conducts electric current in only one direction.

    Record Article Feed 2010

  • The author of the above hypothesis wrote his degree paper on silicon carbide light-emitting diode, that is why the ending of the forth series is the most simple- it is a modern light-emitting diode.

    Posthuman Blues Mac 2007

  • It looks like something out of "Star Wars," but it's not sci-fi, it's high tech and it's called a diode laser.

    RNews - TOP STORIES 2009

  • It looks like something out of "Star Wars," but it's not sci-fi, it's high tech and it's called a diode laser.

    RNews - TOP STORIES 2009

  • A diode is a junction of two types of semiconductor, which only allow electrons to flow in one direction.

    Answerbag: Latest Questions in Question Categories 2009

  • It looks like something out of "Star Wars," but it's not sci-fi, it's high tech and it's called a diode laser.

    RNews - TOP STORIES 2009

  • It looks like something out of "Star Wars," but it's not sci-fi, it's high tech and it's called a diode laser.

    RNews - TOP STORIES 2009

  • It looks like something out of "Star Wars," but it's not sci-fi, it's high tech and it's called a diode laser.

    RNews - TOP STORIES 2009

  • It looks like something out of "Star Wars," but it's not sci-fi, it's high tech and it's called a diode laser.

    RNews - TOP STORIES 2009

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