carbide lamp

noun

: a lamp that produces light by the combustion of acetylene gas created by the measured combination of water and calcium carbide

The major disadvantage of a carbide lamp is that it blows out quite easily in windy passages and is next to useless when climbing in a waterfall.

—David R. McClurg, The Amateur's Guide To Caves & Caving, 1973

Word History

First Known Use

1898, in the meaning defined above

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