Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Searchlight |
SearchlightNoun1. A light source with reflectors that projects a beam of light in a particular direction. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "searchlight" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1890. (references) |
| Domain | Definitions |
Electrical Engineering | A lighting fitting which, by means of mirrors or lenses, concentrates the light in a limited solid angle so as to obtain a high value of luminous intensity. Source: European Union. (references) |
Fine Arts | An apparatus for projecting a powerful beam of light of approximately parallel rays usually devised so that it can be swiveled about. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Searchlights were first used in World War I to create "artificial moonlight" to enhance opportunities for night attacks, a practice which continued in World War II. Artificial moonlight was invented by historian and tank warfare theorist, Gen. J.F.C. Fuller.
Searchlights were used extensively for defence against nighttime aerial bomber raids around the time of World War II. As radar was a brand-new technology used only by the British for early warning purposes, anti-aircraft flak cannons required visual targetting; searchlights were used to illuminate aircraft in the sky so that the gunners could see them.
More recently, searchlights are often used in advertising, for instance by automobile dealers; the beam of light is visible over a large area, and (at least in theory) interested persons can find the dealer or store by following the beam to its source. This also used to be done for movie premieres; the waving searchlight beams are still to be seen as a design element in the logo of the 20th Century Fox movie studio.
Searchlight is also the name of a magazine.
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Searchlight is a very short science fiction story by Robert A. Heinlein about a little blind girl whose spaceship crashes on the moon. She uses her prodigious musical ability to help rescuers find her.(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Searchlight is a town located in Clark County, Nevada. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 576.Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Searchlight."
Crosswords: Searchlight |
| Specialty definitions using "searchlight": DIOGENES ♦ indirect illumination ♦ pencil beam. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | New Searchlight (1937) Contest Searchlight (2002) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Periodicals |
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Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Streaming out from the center of the galaxy M87 like a cosmic searchlight is one of nature's ...Credit: NASA. |  | Ship's Commanding Officer, Captain Charles J. Badger, on her bridge in May 1910. Note 9-foot rangefinder to the left of Capt. Badger and searchlight platforms on the foremast behind him.Credit: NAVY. |
 | Has guns removed from her forward 6"/47 turrets, during overhaul and battle damage repairs at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, circa September 1943. The upper section of her midships searchlight platform is hanging from a crane in the immediate background. It was removed to reduce the ship's topside weights. Note men in colored "hard hats" in the foreground.Credit: NAVY. |  | At the Mare Island Navy Yard, 22 January 1945, following battle damage repair and overhaul. Photographed from a Navy Yard crane, this "plan view" of the ship's after area shows a number of recent alterations, enclosed in white lines drawn on the image. Notable features include a Mark 34 Gun Director with antenna for Mark 8 radar; Mark 37 Gun Director with antennas for Mark 12 and Mark 22 radars; the after smokestack with searchlight platforms mounted on it; and the height-finding radar and other electronic equipment on the mainmast.Credit: NAVY. |
 | Alongside a cruiser (either Salt Lake City or Pensacola) with survivors of USS Wasp (CV-7) on board, probably at Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides. Wasp had been sunk by a Japanese submarine on 15 September 1942. Note Laffey's smokestacks, Searchlight, mainmast, depth charges, and fully outfitted liferaft.Credit: NAVY. |  | Photograph printed on a postal card. It was taken between 1925 and 1928. The Japanese language caption in upper left center gives information on the ship's construction, displacement, dimensions and armament. Text in upper right identifies Kongo and Haruna as having this appearance. However, only Kongo had the searchlight platform between the first and second smokestacks, as seen here. See Photo # NH 89176 for an identical view, with very similar Japanese language caption.Credit: NAVY. |
 | View of the ship's starboard midsection, showing her masts, smokestacks, gunfire controls and other details. Note searchlight tower between the first and second smokestacks, and the large smoke deflector on the forward stack. The original photograph, which came from Office of Naval Intelligence files, is dated 1929.Credit: NAVY. |  | Steaming at high speed, circa 1916-17, as seen from the high-angle gun platform of another British warship. Gun is probably a three-inch type. Note that Renown still has her original searchlight installation, which was replaced later in 1917.Credit: NAVY. |
 | U.S.S. Texas, searchlight from Vizcaya replacing one destroyed in Battle of Santiago.Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Town of Searchlight, Nevada.Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| "Searchlight" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 98.81% of the time. "Searchlight" is used about 84 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 98.81% | 83 | 36,350 |
| Noun (proper) | 1.19% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 84 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expression using "searchlight": cloud searchlight. Additional references. | |
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "searchlight": sonic-searchlight. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "searchlight"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | prozhektor (arc light, floodlight, projector). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | كشاف (prospector, scout, tracer), مشعل كهربائي بطارية, نور كشاف. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | прожектор (floodlight, spotlight). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 探照燈 , 探照灯. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | svìtlomet (floodlight, headlight, spotlight), reflektor (headlight, lamp, reflector). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | soegelys (projector), projektør (projector, spotlight), lyskaster (projector). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | schijnwerper (projector, spotlight), zoeklicht (projector), bundellicht (projector). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | نورافکن (Spotlight), اشعه نورافکن . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | valonheitin (floodlight, headlight, projector). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | projecteur. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | suchscheinwerfer, Scheinwerfer (floodlight, head lamp, headlamp, headlight, headlights, lamp, projector, reflector, reverberator, searchlamp, spotlight, yead light). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | προβολέασ (floodlight, projector), προβολέας προβολής (projector), προβολέας (headlamp, headlight, lamp, plotting camera, projector, spotlight), ηλεκτρικόσ προβολέασ. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | זרקור (projector, spot, spotlight). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | reflektor (broadside, dazzle lamps, dazzle lights, headlight, illuminator, reflector, reverberator, spotlight, sun lamp), kutatófény, fényszóró (dazzle lamps, dazzle lights, full beam, headlight, high beam, illuminating light, lamp, light, reflector, spotlight). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | lampu sorot (spotlight). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | riflettore (floodlight, mirror, projection, reflector, reflector lens, reflector-mirror, reflex reflector, reverberator, specular reflector, spotlight), proiettore (floodlight, headlamp, headlight, lamp, light, projector, spotlight). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 探照灯 , 探海灯 , ゴルフ (ace, circle, circlet, circlip, circuit, circuit breaker, circuit training, circular fluorescent lamp, circular skirt, circulation, circulator, circumscribe, circumscription, circus, club, Gauloise, golf course, golf links, gondola, gong, goods or services without charge, grounder, saber, sabre, sabre-toothed tiger, sardine, sardonyx, search, searcher, serge, sergeant, servant, serve, serve point, server, service, service area, service car, service girl, service room, service station, service yard, snap ring, sports club, support system, surcharge, surf cast, surf casting, surf rider, surf roller, surf ski, surf trolling, surfboard, surfer, surfing, surge, surveillance, survey, Surveyor, third, thirty). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | た"しょうとう, た"かいとう, サーチライト . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 탐조". (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | soilshey ronsey. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | earchlightsay projetor (headlight, projector, spotlight), projector (projector, spotlight), holofote (beam, floodlight, projector, spotlight, tent pole). (various references) reflector (flood-light, reflector, reverberator, search-light, spotlight), proiector (projector, search-light, spotlight). (various references) прожектор (floodlight, projector, spotlight). (various references) reflektorski, reflektor (floodlight, olivet, reflector, spotlight). (various references) reflector (baffler, catoptric telescope, dish, floodlight, mirror, reflecting telescope, reflector, reflector lens, reflector-mirror, reflex reflector, rejector, repeller, specular reflector, spotlight), proyector (projector, spotlight). (various references) strålkastare (floodlight, floodlights, headlamp, projector, spotlight, torchlight). (various references) projektör (floodlight, floodlight projector, headlight, klieg, projector, reflector, reverberator), ışıldak. (various references) projhektor (r). (various references) прожектор (floodlight, projector, spotlight). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "searchlight": searchlights. (additional references) | |
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"Searchlight" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Searchit. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "searchlight" (pronounced ser"khlī't) |
| 3 | -l ī' t | acolyte, backlight, candlelight, cryolite, daylight, flashlight, floodlight, headlight, highlight, impolite, inflight, lazulite, limelight, moonlight, niccolite, overflight, satellite, skylight, socialite, spotlight, starlight, stoplight, sunlight, twilight. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-e-g-h-h-i-l-r-s-t" | |
-2 letters: ghastlier, lethargic, litharges, thirlages. | |
-3 letters: agrestic, articles, chariest, charlies, cigarets, ergastic, ethicals, gestical, glaciers, glariest, glitches, graciles, hatchels, hatchers, hitchers, lighters, litharge, recitals, relights, slighter, sterical, teiglach, theriacs, thirlage, trachles. | |
-4 letters: achiest, aiglets, aigrets, aitches, alights, alright, archils, article, cagiest, cahiers, carlish, cartels, cashier, chalehs, chalets, charges, charlie, chaster, cherish, chetahs, chitals, cigaret. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-e-g-h-h-i-l-r-s-t" | |
+1 letter: searchlights. | |
+5 letters: plethysmographic. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)53 65 61 72 63 68 6C 69 67 68 74 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references)... . .- .-. -.-. .... .-.. .. --. .... - |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01010011 01100101 01100001 01110010 01100011 01101000 01101100 01101001 01100111 01101000 01110100 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)S e a r c h l i g h t |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0053 0065 0061 0072 0063 0068 006C 0069 0067 0068 0074 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)5371678469747875737486 |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Usage Frequency 8. Expressions | 9. Expressions: Internet 10. Translations: Modern 11. Derivations 12. Rhymes | 13. Anagrams 14. Orthography 15. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
