electric

In Theatre terminology/slang, an electric means an Electrical Batten, which is the kind of batten that everything electrical is attached to (or should be attached to). This includes lamps, BSMs and usually work lamps. For brevity, the name is commonly shortened even further to just 'El'.

In most working stages, there are generally 3 Electrics (though a larger stage will require more) which are spaced evenly along the flow of the stage so that every section can be illuminated. The final upstage electric is the only one that usually carries special instruments, usually in the form of Backdrop/Cyc fill lamps.

For a short example, the phrase "Replace the lamp on Can 34 on the Second El" would be translated as "Replace the light bulb on Light 34 on the Second Electrical Batten."

E*lec"tric (?), E*lec"tric*al (?), a. [L. electrum amber, a mixed metal, Gr. ; akin to the beaming sun, cf. Skr. arc to beam, shine: cf. F. 'electrique. The name came from the production of electricity by the friction of amber.]

1.

Pertaining to electricity; consisting of, containing, derived from, or produced by, electricity; as, electric power or virtue; an electric jar; electric effects; an electric spark.

2.

Capable of occasioning the phenomena of electricity; as, an electric or electrical machine or substance.

3.

Electrifying; thrilling; magnetic.

Mrs. Browning.

Electric atmosphere, ∨ Electric aura. See under Aura. -- Electrical battery. See Battery. -- Electrical brush. See under Brush. -- Electric cable. See Telegraph cable, under Telegraph. -- Electric candle. See under Candle. -- Electric cat Zool., one of three or more large species of African catfish of the genus Malapterurus (esp. M. electricus of the Nile). They have a large electrical organ and are able to give powerful shocks; -- called also sheathfish. -- Electric clock. See under Clock, and see Electro-chronograph. -- Electric current, a current or stream of electricity traversing a closed circuit formed of conducting substances, or passing by means of conductors from one body to another which is in a different electrical state. -- Electric, ∨ Electrical, eel Zool., a South American eel-like fresh-water fish of the genus Gymnotus (G. electricus), from two to five feet in length, capable of giving a violent electric shock. See Gymnotus. -- Electrical fish Zool., any fish which has an electrical organ by means of which it can give an electrical shock. The best known kinds are the torpedo, the gymnotus, or electrical eel, and the electric cat. See Torpedo, and Gymnotus. -- Electric fluid, the supposed matter of electricity; lightning. -- Electrical image Elec., a collection of electrical points regarded as forming, by an analogy with optical phenomena, an image of certain other electrical points, and used in the solution of electrical problems. Sir W. Thomson. -- Electrical light, the light produced by a current of electricity which in passing through a resisting medium heats it to incandescence or burns it. See under Carbon. -- Electric, ∨ Electrical, machine, an apparatus for generating, collecting, or exciting, electricity, as by friction. -- Electric motor. See Electro-motor,

2. -- Electric osmose. Physics See under Osmose. -- Electric pen, a hand pen for making perforated stencils for multiplying writings. It has a puncturing needle driven at great speed by a very small magneto-electric engine on the penhandle. -- Electric railway, a railway in which the machinery for moving the cars is driven by an electric current. -- Electric ray Zool., the torpedo. -- Electric telegraph. See Telegraph.

© Webster 1913.

E*lec"tric (?), n. Physics

A nonconductor of electricity, as amber, glass, resin, etc., employed to excite or accumulate electricity.

© Webster 1913.