lantern

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Meaning

1. A case of translucent or transparent material made to protect a flame, or light, used to illuminate its surroundings.
2. Especially, a metal casing with lens used to illuminate a stage (e.g. spotlight, floodlight).
3. An open structure of light material set upon a roof, to give light and air to the interior.
4. A cage or open chamber of rich architecture, open below into the building or tower which it crowns.
5. A smaller and secondary cupola crowning a larger one, for ornament, or to admit light.
6. A lantern pinion or trundle wheel.
7. A kind of cage inserted in a stuffing box and surrounding a piston rod, to separate the packing into two parts and form a chamber between for the reception of steam, etc.; a lantern brass.
8. A light formerly used as a signal by a railway guard or conductor at night.
9. A perforated barrel to form a core upon.
10. Aristotle's lantern

lantern

lamp

light

torch

streetlight

kitchen

light bulb

night ornament

paper lantern

glim

candle

hanging lamp

hurricane-lantern

cresset

beacon

signal bridge

optical lantern

projecting lantern

projector

slide projector

burner

lantern light

monitor roof

monitor top

lame

small lamp

wick lamp

streetlamp

illumination

lamplight

lights

oil lamp

flashlight

street light

Frequency

Hyphenated as

lan‧tern

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈlæntən/

From Middle English lanterne (13th century), via Old French lanterne from Latin lanterna (“lantern”), itself a corruption of Ancient Greek λαμπτήρ (lamptḗr, “torch”) (see lamp, λάμπω (lámpō)) by influence of Latin lucerna (“lamp”). The spelling lanthorn was current during the 16th to 19th centuries and originates with a folk etymology associating the word with the use of horn as translucent cover. For the verb, compare French lanterner to hang at the lamppost. Displaced native Old English lēohtfæt (literally “light-container”).