lamp

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A device that gives light, especially one you can move around a room.

   She switched on the lamp beside her bed to read.

2. 2
   noun

   A container that burns oil through a wick to give light.

   Before electricity, families lit their homes with oil lamps.

From Middle English laumpe, lampe, from Old French lampe (“lamp, light”), from Latin lampas (“torch, lamp, light”), from Ancient Greek λαμπάς (lampás, “torch, lamp, beacon, light, meteor”), from Proto-Indo-European *leh₂p- (“to shine”). Cognate with Lithuanian lópė (“light”), Welsh llachar (“bright”). Displaced native Old English lēohtfæt (literally “light-vat”).

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