Definitions

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

  • noun Any of various devices that generate light and often heat, especially.
  • noun An electric device having a socket for a light bulb, especially a free-standing piece of furniture.
  • noun A device that gives off ultraviolet, infrared, or other radiation, used for therapeutic purposes.
  • noun A light bulb.
  • noun A vessel containing oil or alcohol burned through a wick.
  • noun A lantern or fixture that gives off light by burning gas, usually by means of a mantle.
  • noun Archaic A celestial body that gives off or reflects light.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A thin plate.
  • To furnish light to; light.
  • To shine.
  • To go or run quickly; scamper.
  • noun A vessel, generally portable, for containing an inflammable liquid and a wick so arranged that it lifts the liquid by capillary attraction and when ignited at the end serves as a means of illumination; in recent use also, by extension, a device employed for the same purpose in which the source of illumination is ignited gas or electricity.
  • noun Figuratively, something suggesting the light of a lamp, whether in appearance or use; anything possessing or communicating light, real or metaphorical.
  • noun plural Same as gig-lamps. See gig-lamp, 3.
  • noun (See also carcel-lamp, glow-lamp, jack-lamp, safety-lamp.)
  • noun In telephony, an auxiliary signaling-lamp placed in front of the switchboard and serving to indicate to the chief operator delay in responding to any one of a group of call-signals.
  • noun A lamp having a spiral of platinum placed above the wick. The vapor from the alcohol (ethyl or methyl) drawn up by the wick unites with the air through the agency of the platinum, which is thus made to glow.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun obsolete A thin plate or lamina.
  • noun A light-producing vessel, device, instrument or apparatus
  • noun Figuratively, anything which enlightens intellectually or morally; anything regarded metaphorically a performing the uses of a lamp.
  • noun (Elec.) A device or mechanism for producing light by electricity, usually having a glass bulb or tube containing the light-emitting element. Most lamps belong to one of two categories, the Incandescent lamp (See under Incandescent) or the fluorescent lamp. However, see also arc lamp, below.
  • noun A device that emits radiant energy in the form of heat, infrared, or ultraviolet rays.
  • noun a hollow ball of copper containing alcohol which is converted into vapor by a lamp beneath, so as to make a powerful blowpipe flame when the vapor is ignited.
  • noun (Elec.) a form of lamp in which the voltaic arc is used as the source of light.
  • noun an apparatus for the instantaneous production of a flame by the spontaneous ignition of a jet of hydrogen on being led over platinum sponge; -- named after the German chemist Döbereiner, who invented it. Called also philosopher's lamp.
  • noun an aphlogistic lamp.
  • noun the part of a lamp where the wick is exposed and ignited.
  • noun a reservoir for oil, in a lamp.
  • noun See 2d Jack, n., 4 (l) & (n).
  • noun a screen, as of paper, glass, or tin, for softening or obstructing the light of a lamp.
  • noun (Zoöl.) any brachiopod shell of the genus Terebratula and allied genera. The name refers to the shape, which is like that of an antique lamp. See Terebratula.
  • noun a miner's lamp in which the flame is surrounded by fine wire gauze, preventing the kindling of dangerous explosive gases; -- called also, from Sir Humphry Davy the inventor, Davy lamp.
  • noun to bear marks of great study and labor, as a literary composition.

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

  • noun A device that generates heat, light or other radiation
  • noun A device containing oil, burnt through a wick for illumination
  • noun A piece of furniture holding one or more electric light sockets.
  • verb slang to hit, clout, belt, wallop
  • verb to hunt at night using a lamp; see lamping
  • verb slang to hang out or chill; to do nothing in particular

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

  • noun a piece of furniture holding one or more electric light bulbs
  • noun an artificial source of visible illumination

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English lampe, from Old French, from Latin lampas, from Greek, from lampein, to shine.]

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Examples

  • For those interested this lamp is available now in two different styles (wall-mount or tabletop) for 19,950 yen (about $227) for white and 23,100 yen (about $262) for red from here.

    Corner Lamp by Korean Designer Ji Young Shon 2009

  • The depiction of a flame in a lamp is also reminiscent of plasma.

    SciFi, Fantasy & Horror Collectibles - Part 1065 2009

  • Designed by British designer Ross Lovegrove for Yamagiwa, the Andromeda lamp is an artificial structure for capturing artificial light.

    Lamp in a Bulb 2009

  • And Bee thinks that the lamp is a vacuum cleaner, and gets to it.

    Motherhood Ain't No Place for Control Freaks 2008

  • And Bee thinks that the lamp is a vacuum cleaner, and gets to it.

    Archive 2008-01-01 2008

  • This information aesthetics post has “a light that ‘blushes’ in response to the emotional pitch of a mobile phone. the lamp is activated by the Electromagnetic field (EMF) emitted from a mobile phone & continues blushing for 5 minutes after the call has ended, hereby prolonging the memory of the otherwise transient conversation”. ambient blushing light

    Smart Mobs » Blog Archive » Blushing light 2006

  • This information aesthetics post has “a light that ‘blushes’ in response to the emotional pitch of a mobile phone. the lamp is activated by the Electromagnetic field (EMF) emitted from a mobile phone & continues blushing for 5 minutes after the call has ended, hereby prolonging the memory of the otherwise transient conversation”. ambient blushing light

    Smart Mobs » Blog Archive » Blushing light 2006

  • In one hand he carried his artificial sun, which he calls lamp, in the other hand

    The Adventures of Maya the Bee Waldemar Bonsels 1919

  • Underneath the lamp is a great saucer to catch the oil which drips from it.

    The Eskimo Twins 1914

  • A lamp is a successor, for, when a lamp is almost out, another may be lighted by it; it is a succession, for by this means David shall not want a man to stand before God.

    Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume III (Job to Song of Solomon) 1721

Comments

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  • Britlish vb: to thump or otherwise hit a person.

    E.g. Colin had being doing my head in all evening, and when he made me drop my kebab I saw red and lamped him.

    October 16, 2007

  • I love this.

    October 16, 2007

  • And the award for most chavtastic sentence on Wordie (so far) goes to...

    October 16, 2007

  • Excellent.

    October 16, 2007

  • inscription on the interior of the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty:

    The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus

    Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

    With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

    Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

    A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

    Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

    Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

    Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

    The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

    "Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

    With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,

    Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

    The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

    Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

    I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

    February 24, 2008

  • You lamp!

    (That isn't slang, I'm just literally calling you a device that generates light, heat, or therapeutic radiation.)

    March 5, 2018