▪ I. lamp-black
(ˈlæmpˌblæk, ˌlæmpˈblæk)
Also 7–8 (and 9 dial.) lam-black.
A pigment consisting of almost pure carbon in a state of fine division; made by collecting the soot produced by burning oil or (now usually) gas. Also attrib., as in lamp-black-ink; lamp-black furnace, an apparatus for making lamp-black.
| 1598 R. Haydocke tr. Lomazzo iii. iv. 99 The shels of almondes burnt, ball blacke, Lampe-blacke. 1612 Peacham Gent. Exerc. i. 76 The making of ordinary lamp blacke. Take a torch or linke, and hold it vnder the bottome of a latten basen, and as it groweth to be furd and blacke within, strike it with a feather into some shell or other, and grind it with gumme water. 1723 J. Smith Art Paint. in Oyl (ed. 5) 29 Lam-black, a Colour of so greasy a nature. 1772 Van Haake in Abridg. Specif. Ship Building (1862) 23 [To the deposit on the interior of a vessel held over the cylinder in which the mineral is heated so as to receive the smoke] I give the name of lamp black. 1799 G. Smith Laboratory II. 37 Draw with the lamp-black-ink lines from one side to the other. 1879 Prescott Sp. Telephone 38 The best substance for these disks is lamp-black, such as is produced by the burning of any of the lighter hydrocarbons. |
▪ II. lamp-black, v. trans.
(læmpˈblæk)
To paint, smear, or coat with lampblack.
| 1676 Wycherley Pl. Dealer iii. i, The Clerks Ink is scarce off of your fingers, you that newly come from Lamblacking the Judges shooes, and are not fit to wipe mine! a 1704 T. Brown Praise Poverty Wks. 1730 I. 98 A..scoundrel who knows no pleasure beyond..lampblacking signs. |
Hence lamp-ˈblacked ppl. a.
| 1864 Morning Star 25 May 4 The lamp-blacked nigger melodists. 1889 Lond. & Edinb. Philos. Mag. Ser. v. XXVII. 2 A thickly lampblacked thermometric apparatus. 1899 Watts-Dunton Aylwin (1900) 132/2 Piles of lamp⁓blacked coffins. |