daguerreotype
/dəˈɡɛɚ.(i.)oʊˌtaɪp/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 2.10 in modern English
20
Scrabble Score
13
Letters
3
Syllables
10
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An early type of photograph created by exposing a silver surface which has previously been exposed to either iodine vapor or iodine and bromine vapors; such a photograph.
noun
The process of making such photographs.
verb
To make a photograph using this process, to make a daguerreotype (of).
Intransitive verb; Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "The awakening of science to this new way of seeing the cosmos began with Johann Ritter in 1801. By 1815, scientists found that Ritter's “chemical rays” [ultraviolet rays] darkened not just silver chloride but also many other kinds of metallic salts. Between 1826 and 1837, Nicéphore Niépce, credited with taking the first successful photograph, in 1827, and Louis Daguerre, the most famous photographic innovator of his day, found that silver iodide was especially light sensitive, and they used this discovery as the basis for their early work, which even then had begun to gain international notice. By 1842, others found that when sunlight hit a gelatin emulsion containing silver iodide, soon to be called a daguerreotype plate, it induced a photochemical reaction. Practical photography was born."
- "What was most admired was the facade of the great and ancient Gothic church of St. Mary,—which was reflected with such exactness that it appeared to be a daguerreotype design; so that all the lines and contours of the innumerable ornaments which cover this facade, were distinguished with ease."
- "[H]e scanned my countenance with a pair of fierce, blood-shot eyes that I knew would daguerreotype my appearance indellibly^([sic]) and faithfully upon his mind."
Etymology
From French daguerréotype. Named after French artist Louis Daguerre (1787–1851) who announced the process in 1839. Daguerre developed the process after some years of collaborations with French chemist Nicéphore Niépce.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /dəˈɡɛɚ.(i.)oʊˌtaɪp/
- British English: /dəˈɡɛɹ.(ɪ.)əʊˌtaɪp/