Lamp (?), n.[OE. (with excrescent p), fr. F. lame, L. lamina. See Lamina.]
A thin plate or lamina.
[Obs.]
Chaucer.
© Webster 1913.
Lamp (?), n. [F. lampe, L. lampas, -adis, fr. Gr. , , torch, fr. to give light, to shine. Cf. Lampad, Lantern.]
1.
A light-producing vessel, instrument or apparatus; especially, a vessel with a wick used for the combustion of oil or other inflammable liquid, for the purpose of producing artificial light.
<-- needs modernization for electric lamps! See def. 3 -->
2.
Figuratively, anything which enlightens intellectually or morally; anything regarded metaphorically a performing the uses of a lamp.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
Ps. cxix. 105.
Ages elapsed ere Homer's lamp appeared.
Cowper.
3. Elec.
A device or mechanism for producing light by electricity. See Incandescent lamp, under Incandescent.
Aeolipile lamp, 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. Weale. -- Arc lamp Elec., a form of lamp in which the voltaic arc is used as the source of light. -- Dobereiner's lamp, 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 Dobereiner, who invented it. Called also philosopher's lamp. -- Flameless lamp, an aphlogistic lamp. -- Lamp burner, the part of a lamp where the wick is exposed and ignited. Knight. -- Lamp fount, a reservoir for oil, in a lamp. -- Lamp jack. See 2d Jack, n., 4 (l) & (n). -- Lamp shade, a screen, as of paper, glass, or tin, for softening or obstructing the light of a lamp. -- Lamp shell Zool., 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. -- Safety lamp, 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. -- To smell of the lamp, to bear marks of great study and labor, as a literary composition.
© Webster 1913.