phosphor, n. (a.)
(ˈfɒsfə(r))
Also 7 -pher, -fer, 8 -phore.
[ad. L. phōsphor-us phosphorus. Cf. F. phosphore (1680 in Hatz.-Darm.), Ger. phosphor.]
1. (With capital P.) The morning star; the planet Venus when appearing before sunrise; Lucifer. Also fig. Now only poet.
| 1635–56 Cowley Davideis ii. 763 They saw this Phosphors infant-light, and knew It bravely usher'd in a Sun as New. 1656 Stanley Hist. Philos. v. (1701) 178/1 Plato's Epigram on Aster, A Phospher 'mongst the Living, late wert thou, But Shin'st among the Dead a Hesper now. 1734 Watts Reliq. Juv. (1789) 257 Still Phosphor glitters, and still Syrius burns. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. cxxi, Bright Phosphor, fresher for the night. 1871 M. Collins Mrq. & Merch. I. x. 309 That which men have seen in early skies, Ere Phosphor in the abyss of perfect purple dies. |
2. Anything that phosphoresces, or emits light without sensible heat: = phosphorus 2. In mod. use [after G. phosphor (Lenard & Klatt 1904, in Ann. der Physik XV. 226)], any substance exhibiting phosphorescence or fluorescence, esp. one that is an artificially prepared solid. Also attrib. and Comb.
The more restricted meaning in quot. 1950 is not usual.
| 1705 Hauksbee in Phil. Trans. XXIV. 2131 Shewing that it requires not so thin a Medium, as..in the Torricillian Experiment, to produce the Mercurial Phosphore. a 1711 Ken Edmund Poet. Wks. 1721 II. 288 No Light was there but what the Phosphors raise. 1819 Keats Lamia 152 Her eyes in torture fix'd, and anguish drear,..Flashed phosphor and sharp sparks. 1910 Sci. Abstr. A. XIII. 269 Different phosphores consisting of an alkaline earth sulphide and heavy metal. 1914 Chem. Abstr. VIII. 3751 For Sa-Ca-‘phosphor’..the rate of decay of the phosphorescence increases with increasing temp. 1943 Endeavour Jan. 25/1 Phosphors are principally used for the fluorescence which they exhibit. 1950 H. W. Leverenz Introd. Luminescence of Solids v. 147 The generic term luminophor is subclassified into fluorophors..(fluorescent materials) and phosphors (phosphorescent materials). 1960 Chalmers & Quarrell Physical Examination of Metals (ed. 2) xvi. 777 Sodium iodide, activated with a trace of thallium..combines a number of properties which make it one of the most important tracer scintillation phosphors. 1961 G. Millerson Technique Television Production ii. 21 By applying the video signal to regulate the picture-tube's beam, a pattern of light and shade can be built up on the screen's phosphor, corresponding to the light distribution in the studio scene. 1971 D. Potter Brit. Eliz. Stamps ii. 25 Phosphor bands are practically invisible in normal light. 1975 New Yorker 5 May 51/3 Television pictures are produced by a flow of electrons moving in straight lines across the phosphorcoated surface of a cathode-ray tube. |
3. = phosphorus (sense 3); esp. in phosphor-bronze, phosphor-copper, phosphor-tin, phosphor-zinc, alloys of phosphorus with the metals named: see bronze, etc.
† B. as adj. Light-bearing, light-giving; phosphorescent. Obs. (Also hyphened.)
| 1804 C. Smith Conversations, etc. I. 127 Steady and clear thy phosphor brilliance burns. 1811 W. R. Spencer Poems 185 Some gleams of phosphor-light it shews. c 1820 S. Rogers Italy, Como 21 And now appear as on a phosphor⁓sea Numberless barks. |