ster⋅e⋅o
[ster-ee-oh, steer-] 
noun, plural ster⋅e⋅os, adjective, verb | 1. | stereoscopic photography. |
| 2. | a stereoscopic photograph. |
| 3. | stereophonic sound reproduction. |
| 4. | a system or the equipment for reproducing stereophonic sound. |
| 5. | Printing. stereotype (defs. 1, 2). |
| 6. | pertaining to stereophonic sound, stereoscopic photography, etc. |
| 7. | Printing. stereotype (def. 5). |
1815–25; by shortening
stereo-
| a combining form borrowed from Greek, where it meant “solid”, used with reference to hardness, solidity, three-dimensionality in the formation of compound words: stereochemistry; stereogram; stereoscope. |
< Gk stereós
stereo.
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source
| ster·e·o (stěr'ē-ō', stîr'-) n. pl. ster·e·os
|
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
stereo
Cite This Source
| stereo stereophonic |
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
stereo
equipment for sound recording and reproduction that utilizes two or more independent channels of information. Separate microphones are used in recording and separate speakers in reproduction; they are arranged to produce a sense of recording-hall acoustics and of the location of instruments within an orchestra. The effectiveness of stereophonic reproduction was demonstrated as early as 1933. Two-track stereophonic tape for the home became common in the 1950s and the stereophonic phonograph record, with two separate channels of information recorded in a single groove, in 1958. In the early 1970s, quadraphonic sound systems, employing four independent channels of information for even greater realism, became commercially available and later led to "surround-sound" systems
Learn more about stereo with a free trial on Britannica.com.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2009, Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.
