Definitions

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

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

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun 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.

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

  • noun A tower or other building with a powerful light at top, erected at the entrance of a port, or at some important point on a coast, to serve as a guide to mariners at night; a pharos.

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

  • noun A building, usually a tower, containing a light to warn or guide ships.

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

  • noun a tower with a light that gives warning of shoals to passing ships

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

light +‎ house

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Examples

  • Serving no seafaring purpose, the lighthouse is a fascinating landmark on the prairies providing a spectacular view of the many lakes, beaches, and resorts in the area.

    The First World War Memoirs of Sampson J. Goodfellow, Part 6: Army Athletics ewillett 2008

  • In an essay on telecommunications pricing, Andrew Odlyzko spends some time reviewing the controversy about whether a lighthouse is necessarily a public good.

    Lighthouses, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009

  • The lighthouse is made of iron and was completed in 1872.

    Archive 2007-05-01 2007

  • The lighthouse is made of iron and was completed in 1872.

    Bolivar batteries 2007

  • He has been living with his novia for the last three years and this year, she came down with him and after they climbed up on the hill where the worlds second highest natural lighthouse is located, he got down on his knees and asked her to marry.

    A Grateful Thanksgiving Indeed 2005

  • In an essay on telecommunications pricing, Andrew Odlyzko spends some time reviewing the controversy about whether a lighthouse is necessarily a public good.

    EconLog: January 2004 Archives 2004

  • So the teacher preparation part will call for the identification of what we call lighthouse colleges, teacher colleges that are exemplary, that are clearly quality teacher colleges.

    Press Briefing By Education Sec Riley And Mike Mccurry ITY National Archives 1997

  • They had not got to the end of the headland where the lighthouse is – Briggs asked her to show him the lighthouse, because the path to it, he knew, was wide enough for two to walk abreast and fairly level – before he had told her of the impression she had made on him in London.

    The Enchanted April 1922

  • In the extension of the Mole-what we call a lighthouse extension-there were seven guns, and these guns could fire in any direction.

    The Fight at Zeebrugge 1919

  • To me, Scorsese threw it in just to kind of leave you discussing/as a metaphor for the lobotomy (as Teddy had been convinced that the lighthouse was the scene of all the secret surgical operations on the island), but for me personally, the shot was there to say: It's just a lighthouse.

    /Filmcast Ep. 88 - Shutter Island (GUEST: C. Robert Cargill from Aint It Cool News) | /Film 2010

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