Lamp sb.1. World English Historical Dictionary

Lamp sb.1. World English Historical Dictionary Dictionary Biographies Literary Criticism Welcome Terms of Service ⧏ Previous Next ⧐ Contents Slice Contents Key Bibliographic Record Murray’s New English Dictionary. 1903, rev. 2024. Lamp sb.1 Forms: 2–7 lampe, 3–6 laumpe, (4 lompe, 5 lawmp(e), 4– lamp. [ad. F. lampe (recorded from 12th c.) = Pr. and It. lampa, ad. L. lampas, Gr. λαμπάς, f. λάμπειν to shine.]

1   1.  A vessel containing oil, which is burnt at a wick, for the purpose of illumination. Now also a vessel of glass or some similar material, enclosing the source of illumination, whether a candle, oil, gas-jet, or incandescent wire. Often preceded by some defining word, as arc, Argand, Davy, electric, gas, spirit, sun, Vesta lamp.

2 c. 1200.  Vices & Virtues, 33. Hit wile on lampe bernen brihte.

3 c. 1230.  Hali Meid., 45. As is wiðute lihte oile in a laumpe.

4 13[?].  K. Alis., 5253. Tofore the kyng honge ., two thousande laumpes of gold.

5 1393.  Langl., P. Pl., C. II. 186. Hit is as lewede as a lamp þat no lyght ys ynne.

6 c. 1449.  Pecock, Repr., II. xviii. 258. A laumpe hangith bifore Seint Kateryn.

7 1477.  Earl Rivers (Caxton), Dictes, 70. I haue putte more oille in my lampe to studie by.

8 1526.  Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 128 b. Apperynge to hym … in ye similitude of the good aungell, with great lyghtes and lampes.

9 1584.  R. Scot, Discov. Witchcr., XIV. i. (1886), 295. Also their lamps,… alembicks, viols, croslets, cucurbits, [etc.].

10 1605.  Shaks., Macb., II. iv. 7. Darke Night strangles the trauailing Lampe.

11 1685.  Lond. Gaz., No. 2092/4. A Patent … for enlightening the Streets, by a new sort of Lantern with Lamps.

12 1756–7.  trans. Keysler’s Trav. (1760), III. 186. Seven golden lamps are continually burning before the image.

13 1806.  A. Duncan, Nelson’s Funeral, 13. Lamps, having two candles in each.

14 1829.  Nat. Philos., Heat, ix. 47 (U. K. S.). A quantity of the liquid … was … rapidly distilled into the globe, by the heat of an Argand lamp.

15 1850.  L. Hunt, Autobiog., III. 251. Their [actors’] only one object in life is to keep themselves, as they phrase it, ‘before the lamps’; that is to say, in the eyes of the audience, and in the receipt of personal applause.

16 c. 1865.  Letheby, in Circ. Sci., I. 113/1. Among the disadvantages of the Vesta lamp, are its liability to smoke, and its disagreeable smell.

17 1892.  Electrical Engineer, 16 Sept., 283/1. Forked terminals fixed on the ends of the connecting wires serve to complete the circuit between lamp and battery.

18   b.  (Said of a literary composition). To smell of (or † taste) the lamp: to be the manifest product of nocturnal or laborious study.

19 1579.  North, Plutarch, Demosthenes (1595), 889. Pytheas … taunting him on a time, tolde him, his reasons smelled of the lampe. Yea, replied Demosthenes sharply againe: so is there great difference, Pytheas, betwixt thy labor and myne by lampelight.

20 1615.  in Breton’s Charac. Essaies (Grosart), 4/1. He that shall read thy characters … must say they are well written. They taste the lampe.

21 1732.  Berkeley, Alciphr., V. § 20. That dry … pedantic … style, which smells of the lamp and college.

22 1768.  Chesterf., Lett., 268. But they [Familiar Letters] should seem easy and natural, and not smell of the lamp.

23 1887.  Saintsbury, Elizabethan Lit., iv. 91. Hardly any poet smells of the lamp less disagreeably than Spenser.

24   c.  Used for torch; (in quots. 1722 and 1848–9 with allusion, after Plato Legg. 776 B and Lucret. II. 79, to the Grecian torch-race: see LAMPADEDROMY).

25 1382.  Wyclif, Song Sol. viii. 6. The laumpis of it the laumpes of fir, and of flaumes.

26 1610.  Shaks., Temp., IV. i. 23. Therefore take heede, As Hymens Lamps shall light you.

27 1722.  Wollaston, Relig. Nat., vi. 136. Or death extinguishes him and his title together, and he delivers the lamp to his next man.

28 1848–9.  Kingsley, Poems, World’s Age, ii. Still the race of Hero-spirits Pass the lamp from hand to hand.

29   d.  = safety-lamp.

30 1839.  Ure, Dict. Arts, Lamp of Davy.

31 1883.  in Gresley, Gloss. Coal Mining.

32   2.  transf. a. sing. One of the heavenly bodies, the sun, moon, a star or meteor; also, a flash (of lightning). pl. The stars or heavenly bodies in general. Also lamp(s of the night, the world.

33 1423.  James I., Kingis Q., lxxii. Esperus his lampis gan to light.

34 15[?].  in Dunbar’s Poems (1893), 329. The Sterne of glory is rissyn ws to gyd,… Abone Phebus, the radius lamp divrn.

35 1591.  Harington, Orl. Fur., IX. lxix. Straight like a lampe of lightning out it flies.

36 1601.  Holland, Pliny, I. 17. Those lampes or torches make long traines.

37 1613.  Purchas, Pilgrimage (1614), 13. It is high time for me to descend from these measures of time; the lampes of the world.

38 1665.  Sir T. Herbert, Trav. (1677), 5. When they see Sun, we see the Lamps of night.

39 1792.  Wolcot (P. Pindar), Wks., III. 198. Mild and placid as the light Shed by the Worm, the lamp of dewy night.

40 1813.  Scott, Trierm., III. ii. Thus as he lay the lamp of night Was quivering on his armour bright.

41 1821.  Shelley, Prometh. Unb., I. i. 362. Yon clear lamps that measure and divide the weary years.

42 1830.  Hogg, in Blackw. Mag., XXVII. 767. Lamps of glory begemm’d the sky.

43   b.  pl. The eyes (formerly poet.; now slang).

44 1590.  Shaks., Com. Err., V. i. 315. My wasting lampes some fading glimmer left.

45 1647.  Fanshawe, Faithf. Sheph. (1676), 77. Behold that proud one on me turn Her sparkling lamps.

46 1812.  J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict., Lamps, the eyes; to have queer lamps, is to have sore or weak eyes.

47   3.  fig. A source or center of light, spiritual or intellectual. Also, lamp of beauty, joy, life, etc.

48   ‘Seven lamps’ are freq. mentioned in Biblical passages either as part of the Temple furniture or in symbolic references (e.g., Ex. xxv. 37, Zech. iv. 2, Rey, iv. 5; hence allusive uses as in quots. 1582, 1849.

49 1500–20.  Dunbar, Poems, lxxvii. 2. Blyth Aberdein,… The lamp of bewtie, bountie, and blythnes. Ibid., lxxxvi. 13. O lamp lemand befor the trone devyne!… O mater Jhesu, salue Maria!

50 1567.  Gude & Godlie Ball. (S.T.S.), 162. Go, hart, vnto the lampe of lycht,… Go, hart, vnto thy Sauiour.

51 1576.  Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 434, note. Cambridge and Oxenford the twoe lampes of England, for learning, knowledge, &c.

52 1582.  Bentley (title), The Monument of Matrons; conteining seven severall Lamps of Virginity.

53 a. 1626.  Bacon, New Atl. (1650), 33. We have Three that take care … to Direct New Experiments, of a Higher Light,… These we call Lamps.

54 1633.  Bp. Hall, Medit. & Vows (1851), 78. Blessed be God, that hath set up so many clear lamps in his Church.

55 1635.  R. Bolton, Comf. Affl. Consc., xviii. (ed. 2), 331. Hold out a lamp of goodly profession to the eye of the world.

56 1717.  L. Howel, Desiderius (ed. 3), 86. This Lamp is called by the Name of Good Conscience.

57 1719.  De Foe, Crusoe, I. xiv. (1840), 249. The great lamp of instruction, the Spirit of God.

58 1742.  Young, Nt. Th., III. 2. Reason, that heav’nlighted lamp in man.

59 1780.  Cowper, Table-T., 556. Ages elapsed ere Homer’s lamp appeared.

60 1814.  Scott, Ld. of Isles, IV. xi. Quench’d is his lamp of varied lore.

61 1828.  Carlyle, Misc. (1857), I. 218. Quesnay’s lamp … kindled the lamp of Adam Smith.

62 1849.  Ruskin (title), The Seven Lamps of Architecture.

63 1878.  J. P. Hopps, Jesus, ii. 11. Whoever despaired of the world, he, at least, kept the lamp of hope burning brightly in his soul.

64   4.  attrib. and Comb.: a. simple attributive, as lamp accident, † basin, -bracket, -burner, -chimney, -cotton, -fête, -fire, -glass, -globe, -house, † -micrometer, -room, -scissors, -sconce, -shade, -soot, -stand, -stead, -stove, -student.

65 1895.  Daily News, 17 Oct., 6/6. Switzerland appears to share with Germany practical immunity from *lamp accidents.

66 1531.  MS. Acc. St. John’s Hosp., Canterb., Paid for mendyng of the *lamp basyn viijd.

67 1552.  Inv., in Archæol. Cant., VIII. 101. Item an old lampe-bason of laten.

68 1875.  Knight, Dict. Mech., *Lamp-bracket.

69 1851.  Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib., 1106. *Lamp-burners in different numbers.

70 1782.  Herschel, in Phil. Trans., LXXII. 167. The wick of the flame consists only of a single very thin *lamp-cotton thread.

71 1899.  Watts-Dunton, Aylwin (1900), 82/2. It is one of the great *lamp-fêtes of Sais.

72 1707.  Curios. in Husb. & Gard., 344. Make a *Lamp Fire under it.

73 1521.  MS. Acc. St. John’s Hosp., Canterb., Paied for a *lampe glasse jd.

74 1878.  F. S. Williams, Midl. Railw., 659. He [the driver] now takes his lamps to the *lamphouse to be cleaned and trimmed by the lampmen.

75 1782.  Herschel, in Phil. Trans., LXXII. 165. The instrument I am going to describe, which I call a *Lamp-Micrometer, is free from all these defects.

76 1895.  Daily News, 25 Sept., 7/2. The boatswain was in charge of the *lamp-room, but did not trim the lamp.

77 1766.  Amory, J. Buncle (1825), II. 82. The golden *lamp-sconce of seven golden candlesticks.

78 1853.  Kane, Grinnell Exp., xxxix. (1856), 355. Our clothing … was black with *lamp-soot.

79 1897.  Micklethwaite, Ornaments Rubric, 30. Sometimes we find a *lampstead in a wall in the form of a niche.

80 1875.  Knight, Dict. Mech., *Lamp-stove.

81 1681.  W. Robertson, Phraseol. Gen. (1693), 798. *Lamp-students, that study by the lamp, or candle.

82   b.  objective, as lamp-bearer, -bearing, -cleaner, -maker, -trimmer, † -waster; lamp-lighting adj. and sb.

83 1849.  G. P. R. James, Woodman, xiv. You must be my *lamp-bearer.

84 1824.  J. Symmons, trans. Æschylus’ Agamemnon, 31.        Such is the course of the *lamp-bearing games, When torches run in solemn festivals One from another, in succession fill’d.

85 1898.  Daily News, 17 Nov., 5/4. He gossiped with the *lamp-cleaner and the porter.

86 1823.  Byron, Juan, XI. xxvi. The French were not yet a *lamp-lighting nation.

87 1872.  ‘Mark Twain,’ Innoc. Abr., xii. 82. We went out to a restaurant, just after lamp-lighting.

88 1598.  Florio, Lamparo, a *lampe-maker.

89 1875.  Carpentry & Join., 100. A disc of talc, to be had of any lampmaker, will answer even better than tin.

90 1882.  Navy List, July, 466. *Lamptrimmer … in 1st Class Ships.

91 1641.  Marmion, Antiquary, I. i. F 3 b. Head-scratchers, thumb-biters, *lamp-wasters.

92   c.  instrumental, as lamp-decked, -heated, -lighted, † -lined, -lit, -warmed adjs. Also lamp-like adj.

93 1826.  Milman, A. Boleyn (1827), 33. Around the *lamp-deck’d altar high and dim.

94 1875.  Carpentry & Join., 95. We will now describe a better class of *lamp-heated case.

95 1844.  Dickens, Mart. Chuz., v. The now *lamp-lighted streets.

96 1674.  Petty, Disc. Dupl. Proportion, 95. Let there be a *Lamplike Vessel of common Aquavitæ.

97 1819.  Shelley, Cyclops, 615. Fire will burn his lamp-like eyes.

98 1650.  Fuller, Pisgah, II. viii. 174. Gedeons men by order from him brake their *lamp-lined pitchers.

99 1835.  Court Mag., VI. 82. In *lamplit vistas cold and grey, The streets deserted stretch away.

100 1847.  Tennyson, Princess, IV. 8. No bigger than a glow-worm shone the tent Lamp-lit from the inner.

101 1852.  R. S. Surtees, Sponge’s Sp. Tour (1893), 286. Sundry *lamp-warmed dishes of savoury grills.

102   5.  Special comb.: † lamp-beam, ? a chandelier; lamp-fish (see quot.); lamp-fly, ? a glow-worm; lamp-furnace, a furnace in which a lamp was used as the means of heating; lamp-hole, a hole or opening to receive a lamp; in sewers, a hole to admit of the passage of a lamp; † lamp-iron, a projecting iron rod from which a lamp was suspended; in the French Revolution sometimes used as a gallows; lamp-jack U.S. (see quot.); lamp-man, (a) a manufacturer of or dealer in lamps; (b) one who has charge of or tends lamps; lamp-moss, moss used as material for lamp-wicks; lamp-shell, a brachiopod, esp. one of the genus Terebratula or family Terebratulidæ; lamp-wick, (a) the wick of a lamp; (b) the labiate plant Phlomis Lychnites.

103 1565.  Golding, Ovid’s Met., XII. (1567), 151 b. He ran And pulled downe a *Lampbeame [L. funale] full of lyghtes.

104 1883.  C. F. Holder, in Harper’s Mag., Jan., 186/1. The Scopelus resplendens … is called the brilliant *lamp-fish … from the fact that it has upon its head at night a glowing light.

105 1840.  Browning, Sordello, III. 105. Thorn-rows Alive with *lamp-flies.

106 1641.  French, Distill., v. (1651), 153. There is another sort of *Lamp furnaces with three candles.

107 1669.  Worlidge, Syst. Agric. (1681), 195. Therefore may you with much facility hatch three or four douzen of Eggs in a Lamp-furnace made of a few Boards, only by the heat of a Candle or Lamp.

108 1770.  Hewson, in Phil. Trans., LX. 385. I therefore prepared a lamp-furnace with a small vessel of water upon it.

109 1884.  Health Exhib. Catal., 55/2. Ventilator with Dirt Boxes and *Lamphole Cover combined.

110 1890.  W. J. Gordon, Foundry, 151. The second-class passengers … drenched by the main pouring through the lamp-hole!

111 1790.  Burke, Fr. Rev., Wks. V. 171. Though the latter should act with the libel and the *lamp-iron.

112 1828.  [Mary Berry], Soc. Life England & France, 411. The lamp-iron yet remains at the corner of the Place de Grêve, to which Foulon (one of the first who thus perished) was suspended in July, 1790.

113 1849.  Miss Warner, Wide wide World, i. As he hooked his ladder on the lamp-irons, ran up and lit the lamp.

114 1884.  Knight, Dict. Mech., Suppl., *Lamp jack (Railway), a hood over a lamp chimney on the roof of a car.

115 1704.  Lond. Gaz., No. 4060/6. *Lamp-men, Ironmongers, Brasiers.

116 1797.  Mrs. A. M. Bennett, Beggar Girl (1813), V. 240. Fiddlers, tailors, lampmen, and all sorts of trades.

117 1876.  [see lamp-house in 4].

118 1892.  Daily News, 3 March, 5/6. The lamp man inside … hands out the check and a lamp to collier No. 46.

119 1865.  Lubbock, Preh. Times, 401. The women have lamps and stone-kettles, *lamp-moss [etc.].

120 1854.  Woodward, Mollusca, II. 209. The Brachiopoda are bivalve shell-fish…. Their forms are symmetrical, and so commonly resemble antique lamps that they were called lampades or *‘lamp-shells’ by the old naturalists.

121 1876.  Huxley, Amer. Addresses, ii. (1877), 36. One of the cretaceous lamp-shells (Terebratula).

122 1863.  Berkeley, Brit. Mosses, ix. 39. One species [of moss] affords a substitute for *lampwicks to the Esquimaux.

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