From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
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]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Tungsten lamp \Tung"sten lamp\
An electric glow lamp having filaments of metallic tungsten,
and contained in a glass bulb which is evacuated or has an
inert gas, to avoid oxidation of the tungsten; a common form
of light bulb. Such lamps, owing to the refractory nature of
the metal, may be maintained at a very high temperature and
require an expenditure of only about 1.25 watts per candle
power, depending on the total wattage and the design of the
bulb. By mid-20th century tungsten lamps became the most
common type of incandescent (as contrasted with fluorescent)
lamp; thus the phrase
{incandescent lamp} or
{incandescent light} typically refers to a tungsten lamp.
[Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
incandescent lamp
n 1: electric lamp consisting of a transparent or translucent
glass housing containing a wire filament (usually tungsten)
that emits light when heated by electricity [syn: {light
bulb}, {lightbulb}, {bulb}, {incandescent lamp}, {electric
light}, {electric-light bulb}]
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