searchlight

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English

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Etymology

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From search +‎ light. Compare West Frisian sykljocht (searchlight), Dutch zoeklicht (searchlight), Danish søgelys (searchlight), Swedish sökarljus (searchlight).

Pronunciation

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  • Hyphenation: search‧light

Noun

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searchlight (plural searchlights)

  1. A light source that projects a bright beam of light in any direction, generally for military use.
  2. The light from the above source.

Hypernyms

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Translations

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Verb

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searchlight (third-person singular simple present searchlights, present participle searchlighting, simple past and past participle searchlighted or searchlit)

  1. (transitive) To scan or sweep across like a searchlight.
    • 1937, L. Ron Hubbard, All Frontiers Are Jealous:
      A dozen air corps of fireflies searchlighted the spot for an instant.

References

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