Edison

[ ed-uh-suhn ]

noun
  1. Thomas Al·va [al-vuh], /ˈæl və/, 1847–1931, U.S. inventor, especially of electrical devices.

  2. a township in central New Jersey.

Words Nearby Edison

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use Edison in a sentence

  • In the early Edison phonograph the sound vibrations were registered on a tinfoil-covered cylinder.

  • Professor Bell's first operative apparatus was accompanied by simultaneous inventions by Gray, Edison, and others.

    Steam Steel and Electricity | James W. Steele
  • One of the best known of the modern machines is Edison's, represented in the picture at the head of this article.

    Steam Steel and Electricity | James W. Steele
  • There was a boy Edison needed there then, whose toys reap fortunes and light, and enlighten, the world.

    Steam Steel and Electricity | James W. Steele
  • Edison never had more than two months regular schooling in his entire boyhood.

    Steam Steel and Electricity | James W. Steele

British Dictionary definitions for Edison

Edison

/ (ˈɛdɪsən) /


noun
  1. Thomas Alva. 1847–1931, US inventor. He patented more than a thousand inventions, including the phonograph, the incandescent electric lamp, the microphone, and the kinetoscope

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for Edison

Edison

[ ĕdĭ-sən ]


  1. American inventor and physicist who took out more than 1,000 patents in his lifetime. His inventions include the telegraph (1869), microphone (1877), and light bulb (1879). He also designed the first power plant (1881-82), making possible the widespread distribution of electricity. During World War I, Edison worked on a number of military devices, including flamethrowers, periscopes, and torpedoes.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.