The Collaborative International Dictionary
Lantern \Lan"tern\ (l[a^]n"t[~e]rn), n. [F. lanterne, L. lanterna, laterna, from Gr. lampth`r light, torch. See Lamp.]
Something inclosing a light, and protecting it from wind, rain, etc.; -- sometimes portable, as a closed vessel or case of horn, perforated tin, glass, oiled paper, or other material, having a lamp or candle within; sometimes fixed, as the glazed inclosure of a street light, or of a lighthouse light.
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(Arch.)
An open structure of light material set upon a roof, to give light and air to the interior.
A cage or open chamber of rich architecture, open below into the building or tower which it crowns.
A smaller and secondary cupola crowning a larger one, for ornament, or to admit light; such as the lantern of the cupola of the Capitol at Washington, or that of the Florence cathedral.
(Mach.) A lantern pinion or trundle wheel. See Lantern pinion (below).
(Steam Engine) A kind of cage inserted in a stuffing box and surrounding a piston rod, to separate the packing into two parts and form a chamber between for the reception of steam, etc.; -- called also lantern brass.
(Founding) A perforated barrel to form a core upon.
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(Zo["o]l.) See Aristotle's lantern.
Note: Fig. 1 represents a hand lantern; fig. 2, an arm lantern; fig. 3, a breast lantern; -- so named from the positions in which they are carried.
Dark lantern, a lantern with a single opening, which may be closed so as to conceal the light; -- called also bull's-eye.
Lantern jaws, long, thin jaws; hence, a thin visage.
Lantern pinion, Lantern wheel (Mach.), a kind of pinion or wheel having cylindrical bars or trundles, instead of teeth, inserted at their ends in two parallel disks or plates; -- so called as resembling a lantern in shape; -- called also wallower, or trundle.
Lantern shell (Zo["o]l.), any translucent, marine, bivalve shell of the genus Anatina, and allied genera.
Magic lantern, an optical instrument consisting of a case inclosing a light, and having suitable lenses in a lateral tube, for throwing upon a screen, in a darkened room or the like, greatly magnified pictures from slides placed in the focus of the outer lens.
Usage examples of "lantern jaws".
He had not shaved for two or three days, and his lantern jaws were dark.
He had an alarming face for children, all eyebrows and big nose and lantern jaws, and although he was genial toward us we were always a little frightened by him.
There was another man among the armed men in the stern of the passing boat--a villainous, lean man with lantern jaws, and the top of his head as bald as the palm of my hand.
Was it not a mental spectre of the face of one of the jesuits whom some of the boys called Lantern Jaws and others Foxy Campbell?
The briefing room was like 3D House of Chins, row upon row of lantern jaws atop stiff shoulders.
He looked at Matt Abrahamson's leathery face, at his lantern jaws cavernously and stolidly chewing at a tobacco leaf, and it seemed monstrous to him that the old man should be so unconscious of the black cloud that wrapped them all about.