"searchlight" meaning in English

See searchlight in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: searchlights [plural]
Etymology: From search + light. Compare West Frisian sykljocht (“searchlight”), Dutch zoeklicht (“searchlight”), Danish søgelys (“searchlight”), Swedish sökarljus (“searchlight”). Etymology templates: {{af|en|search|light}} search + light, {{cog|fy|sykljocht|t=searchlight}} West Frisian sykljocht (“searchlight”), {{cog|nl|zoeklicht|t=searchlight}} Dutch zoeklicht (“searchlight”), {{cog|da|søgelys|t=searchlight}} Danish søgelys (“searchlight”), {{cog|sv|sökarljus|t=searchlight}} Swedish sökarljus (“searchlight”) Head templates: {{en-noun}} searchlight (plural searchlights)
  1. A light source that projects a bright beam of light in any direction, generally for military use. Categories (topical): Light sources Translations (a light source that projects a bright beam of light in any direction): прожектор (prožektor) [masculine] (Bulgarian), zoeklicht [neuter] (Dutch), valonheitin (Finnish), hakuvalo (Finnish), projecteur [masculine] (French), fényszóró (Hungarian), keresőlámpa (Hungarian), reflektor (Hungarian), søkelys [neuter] (Norwegian Bokmål), søkelys [neuter] (Norwegian Nynorsk), projector [masculine] (Occitan), проже́ктор (prožéktor) [masculine] (Russian), proyector de búsqueda [masculine] (Spanish), sökljus [neuter] (Swedish), sökarljus [neuter] (Swedish), litijedian (Volapük)
    Sense id: en-searchlight-en-noun-WUhbxR2P Disambiguation of Light sources: 72 24 5 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English entries with topic categories using raw markup Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 53 27 20 Disambiguation of English entries with topic categories using raw markup: 60 23 17 Disambiguation of 'a light source that projects a bright beam of light in any direction': 79 21
  2. The light from the above source. Translations (the light from the above source): valokeila (Finnish), faisceau [masculine] (French), fénysugár (Hungarian), fénykéve (Hungarian), fais [masculine] (Occitan), sökljus [neuter] (Swedish), sökarljus [neuter] (Swedish)
    Sense id: en-searchlight-en-noun-M~JcJA3Z Disambiguation of 'the light from the above source': 19 81
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Hypernyms: light

Verb

Forms: searchlights [present, singular, third-person], searchlighting [participle, present], searchlighted [participle, past], searchlighted [past], searchlit [participle, past], searchlit [past]
Etymology: From search + light. Compare West Frisian sykljocht (“searchlight”), Dutch zoeklicht (“searchlight”), Danish søgelys (“searchlight”), Swedish sökarljus (“searchlight”). Etymology templates: {{af|en|search|light}} search + light, {{cog|fy|sykljocht|t=searchlight}} West Frisian sykljocht (“searchlight”), {{cog|nl|zoeklicht|t=searchlight}} Dutch zoeklicht (“searchlight”), {{cog|da|søgelys|t=searchlight}} Danish søgelys (“searchlight”), {{cog|sv|sökarljus|t=searchlight}} Swedish sökarljus (“searchlight”) Head templates: {{en-verb|past2=searchlit}} 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. Tags: transitive
    Sense id: en-searchlight-en-verb-CzhN~Ik8

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for searchlight meaning in English (7.7kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "search",
        "3": "light"
      },
      "expansion": "search + light",
      "name": "af"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fy",
        "2": "sykljocht",
        "t": "searchlight"
      },
      "expansion": "West Frisian sykljocht (“searchlight”)",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "nl",
        "2": "zoeklicht",
        "t": "searchlight"
      },
      "expansion": "Dutch zoeklicht (“searchlight”)",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "da",
        "2": "søgelys",
        "t": "searchlight"
      },
      "expansion": "Danish søgelys (“searchlight”)",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sv",
        "2": "sökarljus",
        "t": "searchlight"
      },
      "expansion": "Swedish sökarljus (“searchlight”)",
      "name": "cog"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From search + light. Compare West Frisian sykljocht (“searchlight”), Dutch zoeklicht (“searchlight”), Danish søgelys (“searchlight”), Swedish sökarljus (“searchlight”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "searchlights",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "searchlight (plural searchlights)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "hypernyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "light"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "search‧light"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "53 27 20",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "60 23 17",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with topic categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "72 24 5",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Light sources",
          "orig": "en:Light sources",
          "parents": [
            "Light",
            "Energy",
            "Nature",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A light source that projects a bright beam of light in any direction, generally for military use."
      ],
      "id": "en-searchlight-en-noun-WUhbxR2P",
      "links": [
        [
          "light",
          "light"
        ],
        [
          "beam",
          "beam"
        ],
        [
          "military",
          "military"
        ]
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "79 21",
          "code": "bg",
          "lang": "Bulgarian",
          "roman": "prožektor",
          "sense": "a light source that projects a bright beam of light in any direction",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "прожектор"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "79 21",
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "a light source that projects a bright beam of light in any direction",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "zoeklicht"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "79 21",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "a light source that projects a bright beam of light in any direction",
          "word": "valonheitin"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "79 21",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "a light source that projects a bright beam of light in any direction",
          "word": "hakuvalo"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "79 21",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "a light source that projects a bright beam of light in any direction",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "projecteur"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "79 21",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "a light source that projects a bright beam of light in any direction",
          "word": "fényszóró"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "79 21",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "a light source that projects a bright beam of light in any direction",
          "word": "keresőlámpa"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "79 21",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "a light source that projects a bright beam of light in any direction",
          "word": "reflektor"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "79 21",
          "code": "nb",
          "lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
          "sense": "a light source that projects a bright beam of light in any direction",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "søkelys"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "79 21",
          "code": "nn",
          "lang": "Norwegian Nynorsk",
          "sense": "a light source that projects a bright beam of light in any direction",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "søkelys"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "79 21",
          "code": "oc",
          "lang": "Occitan",
          "sense": "a light source that projects a bright beam of light in any direction",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "projector"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "79 21",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "prožéktor",
          "sense": "a light source that projects a bright beam of light in any direction",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "проже́ктор"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "79 21",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "a light source that projects a bright beam of light in any direction",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "proyector de búsqueda"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "79 21",
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "a light source that projects a bright beam of light in any direction",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "sökljus"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "79 21",
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "a light source that projects a bright beam of light in any direction",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "sökarljus"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "79 21",
          "code": "vo",
          "lang": "Volapük",
          "sense": "a light source that projects a bright beam of light in any direction",
          "word": "litijedian"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "The light from the above source."
      ],
      "id": "en-searchlight-en-noun-M~JcJA3Z",
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "19 81",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "the light from the above source",
          "word": "valokeila"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "19 81",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "the light from the above source",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "faisceau"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "19 81",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "the light from the above source",
          "word": "fénysugár"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "19 81",
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "the light from the above source",
          "word": "fénykéve"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "19 81",
          "code": "oc",
          "lang": "Occitan",
          "sense": "the light from the above source",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "fais"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "19 81",
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "the light from the above source",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "sökljus"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "19 81",
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "the light from the above source",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "sökarljus"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "searchlight"
}

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "search",
        "3": "light"
      },
      "expansion": "search + light",
      "name": "af"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fy",
        "2": "sykljocht",
        "t": "searchlight"
      },
      "expansion": "West Frisian sykljocht (“searchlight”)",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "nl",
        "2": "zoeklicht",
        "t": "searchlight"
      },
      "expansion": "Dutch zoeklicht (“searchlight”)",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "da",
        "2": "søgelys",
        "t": "searchlight"
      },
      "expansion": "Danish søgelys (“searchlight”)",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sv",
        "2": "sökarljus",
        "t": "searchlight"
      },
      "expansion": "Swedish sökarljus (“searchlight”)",
      "name": "cog"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From search + light. Compare West Frisian sykljocht (“searchlight”), Dutch zoeklicht (“searchlight”), Danish søgelys (“searchlight”), Swedish sökarljus (“searchlight”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "searchlights",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "searchlighting",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "searchlighted",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "searchlighted",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "searchlit",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "searchlit",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "past2": "searchlit"
      },
      "expansion": "searchlight (third-person singular simple present searchlights, present participle searchlighting, simple past and past participle searchlighted or searchlit)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "search‧light"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1937, L. Ron Hubbard, All Frontiers Are Jealous",
          "text": "A dozen air corps of fireflies searchlighted the spot for an instant.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To scan or sweep across like a searchlight."
      ],
      "id": "en-searchlight-en-verb-CzhN~Ik8",
      "links": [
        [
          "scan",
          "scan"
        ],
        [
          "sweep",
          "sweep"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To scan or sweep across like a searchlight."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "searchlight"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English compound terms",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English verbs",
    "en:Light sources"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "search",
        "3": "light"
      },
      "expansion": "search + light",
      "name": "af"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fy",
        "2": "sykljocht",
        "t": "searchlight"
      },
      "expansion": "West Frisian sykljocht (“searchlight”)",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "nl",
        "2": "zoeklicht",
        "t": "searchlight"
      },
      "expansion": "Dutch zoeklicht (“searchlight”)",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "da",
        "2": "søgelys",
        "t": "searchlight"
      },
      "expansion": "Danish søgelys (“searchlight”)",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sv",
        "2": "sökarljus",
        "t": "searchlight"
      },
      "expansion": "Swedish sökarljus (“searchlight”)",
      "name": "cog"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From search + light. Compare West Frisian sykljocht (“searchlight”), Dutch zoeklicht (“searchlight”), Danish søgelys (“searchlight”), Swedish sökarljus (“searchlight”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "searchlights",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "searchlight (plural searchlights)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "hypernyms": [
    {
      "word": "light"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "search‧light"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A light source that projects a bright beam of light in any direction, generally for military use."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "light",
          "light"
        ],
        [
          "beam",
          "beam"
        ],
        [
          "military",
          "military"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "The light from the above source."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "bg",
      "lang": "Bulgarian",
      "roman": "prožektor",
      "sense": "a light source that projects a bright beam of light in any direction",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "прожектор"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "a light source that projects a bright beam of light in any direction",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "zoeklicht"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "a light source that projects a bright beam of light in any direction",
      "word": "valonheitin"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "a light source that projects a bright beam of light in any direction",
      "word": "hakuvalo"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "a light source that projects a bright beam of light in any direction",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "projecteur"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "a light source that projects a bright beam of light in any direction",
      "word": "fényszóró"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "a light source that projects a bright beam of light in any direction",
      "word": "keresőlámpa"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "a light source that projects a bright beam of light in any direction",
      "word": "reflektor"
    },
    {
      "code": "nb",
      "lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
      "sense": "a light source that projects a bright beam of light in any direction",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "søkelys"
    },
    {
      "code": "nn",
      "lang": "Norwegian Nynorsk",
      "sense": "a light source that projects a bright beam of light in any direction",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "søkelys"
    },
    {
      "code": "oc",
      "lang": "Occitan",
      "sense": "a light source that projects a bright beam of light in any direction",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "projector"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "prožéktor",
      "sense": "a light source that projects a bright beam of light in any direction",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "проже́ктор"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "a light source that projects a bright beam of light in any direction",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "proyector de búsqueda"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "a light source that projects a bright beam of light in any direction",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "sökljus"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "a light source that projects a bright beam of light in any direction",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "sökarljus"
    },
    {
      "code": "vo",
      "lang": "Volapük",
      "sense": "a light source that projects a bright beam of light in any direction",
      "word": "litijedian"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "the light from the above source",
      "word": "valokeila"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "the light from the above source",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "faisceau"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "the light from the above source",
      "word": "fénysugár"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "the light from the above source",
      "word": "fénykéve"
    },
    {
      "code": "oc",
      "lang": "Occitan",
      "sense": "the light from the above source",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "fais"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "the light from the above source",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "sökljus"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "the light from the above source",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "sökarljus"
    }
  ],
  "word": "searchlight"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English compound terms",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English verbs",
    "en:Light sources"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "search",
        "3": "light"
      },
      "expansion": "search + light",
      "name": "af"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fy",
        "2": "sykljocht",
        "t": "searchlight"
      },
      "expansion": "West Frisian sykljocht (“searchlight”)",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "nl",
        "2": "zoeklicht",
        "t": "searchlight"
      },
      "expansion": "Dutch zoeklicht (“searchlight”)",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "da",
        "2": "søgelys",
        "t": "searchlight"
      },
      "expansion": "Danish søgelys (“searchlight”)",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sv",
        "2": "sökarljus",
        "t": "searchlight"
      },
      "expansion": "Swedish sökarljus (“searchlight”)",
      "name": "cog"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From search + light. Compare West Frisian sykljocht (“searchlight”), Dutch zoeklicht (“searchlight”), Danish søgelys (“searchlight”), Swedish sökarljus (“searchlight”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "searchlights",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "searchlighting",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "searchlighted",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "searchlighted",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "searchlit",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "searchlit",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "past2": "searchlit"
      },
      "expansion": "searchlight (third-person singular simple present searchlights, present participle searchlighting, simple past and past participle searchlighted or searchlit)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "search‧light"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English transitive verbs",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1937, L. Ron Hubbard, All Frontiers Are Jealous",
          "text": "A dozen air corps of fireflies searchlighted the spot for an instant.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To scan or sweep across like a searchlight."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "scan",
          "scan"
        ],
        [
          "sweep",
          "sweep"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To scan or sweep across like a searchlight."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "searchlight"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.