Definition

Noun: 1. A person whose job is to light and extinguish streetlamps: Historically, this was a specific occupation for someone who manually lit gas-powered streetlights at dusk and put them out at dawn. 2. A device for lighting lamps: A less common meaning referring to a long pole with a wick or flame used to reach and light a lamp.

Examples of Usage

• Noun:
  • In the 19th century, the lamplighter would walk his route every evening with his ladder and torch.
  • Before electricity, the lamplighter was a familiar and important figure in the city.
  • The museum displayed an antique lamplighter, a long pole used to light gas lamps.

Advanced Usage

• Historical/Cultural Reference: The term is now primarily used in historical contexts or literature to describe a bygone era. It evokes a specific image of pre-electric urban life.
  • The novel's setting was vividly established with the description of the lamplighter making his rounds through the foggy streets.

Variants and Related Words

• To light a lamp: The action performed by the lamplighter.
• Lamp-lighting: The process or job of lighting lamps.

Synonyms

• Lamp lighter (alternative spelling)
• Lampman (archaic)

Idioms and Phrases

• To run like a lamplighter: (Idiomatic, now rare) To run very fast or in a frantic, hurried manner. This idiom humorously compares someone's speed to the imagined haste of a lamplighter trying to finish his route.
  • He had to run like a lamplighter to catch the last train.

Noun

1. (when gas was used for streetlights) a person who lights and extinguishes streetlights