Defn: A very large vulture (Gypaëtus barbatus), which inhabits the mountains of Southern Europe, Asia, and Northern Africa. When full- grown it is nine or ten feet in extent of wings. It is brownish black above, with the under parts and neck rusty yellow; the forehead and crown white; the sides of the head and beard black. It feeds partly on carrion and partly on small animals, which it kills. It has the habit of carrying tortoises and marrow bones to a great height, and dropping them on stones to obtain the contents, and is therefore called bonebreaker and ossifrage. It is supposed to be the ossifrage of the Bible. Called also bearded vulture and bearded eagle. [Written also lammergeyer.]
LAMNUNGUIA Lam*nun"gui*a, n. pl. Etym: [NL., fr. L. lamina a scale + unguis a nail.] (Zoöl.)
Defn: Same as Hyracoidea.
LAMP
Lamp, n.Etym: [OE. (with excrescent p), fr. F. lame, L. lamina. See
Lamina.]
Defn: A thin plate or lamina. [Obs.] Chaucer.
LAMP
Lamp, n. Etym: [F. lampe, L. lampas, -adis, fr. Gr. Lampad, Lantern.]
1. A light-producing vessel, instrument or apparatus; especially, a vessel with a wick used for the combustion of oil or other inflammable liquid, for the purpose of producing artificial light.
2. Figuratively, anything which enlightens intellectually or morally; anything regarded metaphorically a performing the uses of a lamp. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. Ps. cxix. 105. Ages elapsed ere Homer's lamp appeared. Cowper.
3. (Elec.)
Defn: A device or mechanism for producing light by electricity. See Incandescent lamp, under Incandescent. Æolipile lamp, a hollow ball of copper containing alcohol which is converted into vapor by a lamp beneath, so as to make a powerful blowpipe flame when the vapor is ignited. Weale. — Arc lamp (Elec.), a form of lamp in which the voltaic arc is used as the source of light. — Dëbereiner's lamp, an apparatus for the instantaneous production of a flame by the spontaneous ignition of a jet of hydrogen on being led over platinum sponge; — named after the German chemist Döbereiner, who invented it. Called also philosopher's lamp. — Flameless lamp, an aphlogistic lamp. — Lamp burner, the part of a lamp where the wick is exposed and ignited. Knight. — Lamp fount, a reservoir for oil, in a lamp. — Lamp jack. See 2d Jack, n., 4 (l) & (n). — Lamp shade, a screen, as of paper, glass, or tin, for softening or obstructing the light of a lamp. — Lamp shell (Zoöl.), any brachiopod shell of the genus Terebratula and allied genera. The name refers to the shape, which is like that of an antique lamp. See Terebratula. — Safety lamp, a miner's lamp in which the flame is surrounded by fine wire gauze, preventing the kindling of dangerous explosive gases; — called also, from Sir Humphry Davy the inventor, Davy lamp. — To smell of the lamp, to bear marks of great study and labor, as a literary composition.