- Incandescent lamp
- Incandescent In`can*des"cent, a. [L. incandecens, -entis, p.
pr. of incandescere to become warm or hot; pref. in- in +
candescere to become of a glittering whiteness, to become red
hot, incho. fr. candere to be of a glittering whiteness: cf.
F. incandescent. See {Candle}.]
White, glowing, or luminous, with intense heat; as,
incandescent carbon or platinum; hence, clear; shining;
brilliant.
[1913 Webster]
Holy Scripture become resplendent; or, as one might say, incandescent throughout. --I. Taylor. [1913 Webster]
{Incandescent lamp}, {Incandescent light}, {Incandescent light bulb} (Elec.), a kind of lamp in which the light is produced by a thin filament of conducting material, now usually tungsten, but originally carbon, contained in a vacuum or an atmosphere of inert gas within a glass bulb, and heated to incandescence by an electric current. It was inventerd by Thomas Edison, and was once called the {Edison lamp}; -- called also {incandescence lamp}, and {glowlamp}. This is one of the two most common sources of electric light, the other being the {fluorescent light}, {fluorescent lamp} or {fluorescent bulb}. [1913 Webster +PJC]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
