magic lantern
nounEtymology Calque of Latin lanterna magica.
1
Historical An early light projector and precursor to the slide projector that could achieve simple animation by moving and merging images.
- "You know how that trick was, don't you Dan?" said Bob, "it was a magic lantern."1943, H. Lorna Bingham, The Lost Tribe, Sydney: Winn and Co., page 23, column 1:
2
Dated A slide projector.
- Related terms
- lantern slide, magic lantern show, zoetrope, praxinoscope, phenakistoscope