daguerreotype

da·guerre·o·type

noun \də-ˈge-rō-ˌtīp, -rə-; -ˈger-ō-, -ə- also də-ˈge-rē-ō-ˌtīp, -ˈger-ē-\

Definition of DAGUERREOTYPE

: an early photograph produced on a silver or a silver-covered copper plate; also : the process of producing such photographs

— daguerreotype transitive verb

— da·guerre·o·typ·ist \-ˌtī-pist\ noun

— da·guerre·o·typy \-ˌtī-pē\ noun

Origin of DAGUERREOTYPE

French daguerréotype, from L. J. M. Daguerre + French -o- + type

First Known Use: 1839

Other Pictures (on film) Terms

emulsion, fill, sepia, still, stop

Rhymes with DAGUERREOTYPE

electrotype, Indian pipe, somatotype, stereotype

daguerreotype

noun    (Concise Encyclopedia)

Still Life, daguerreotype by Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre, 1837; …—Collection de la Société Francaiçe de Photographie, Paris

First successful form of photography. It is named for Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre, who invented the technique in collaboration with Nicéphore Niépce. They found that if a copper plate coated with silver iodide is exposed to light in a camera, then fumed with mercury vapour and fixed (made permanent) by a solution of common salt, a permanent image is formed. The first daguerreotype image was produced in 1837, by which time Niépce had died, so the process was named for Daguerre. Many daguerreotypes, especially portraits, were made in the mid-19th century; the technique was gradually replaced by the wet collodion process, introduced in 1851.