vacuum tube

Definition of vacuum tube

: an electron tube evacuated to a high degree of vacuum

Examples of vacuum tube in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web In an age of bulky and power-hungry vacuum tubes, the U.S. military and American industry searched desperately for some way to speed up and shrink computers for defense and commercial applications. — Phil Lapsley, WSJ, "‘The Cryotron Files’ Review: Taking the Cold War to Subzero," 11 Oct. 2018 In addition to the cars, tunnels, and vacuum tubes, the serial entrepreneur also has a company which works on brain-machine interfaces (BMI) called Neuralink. — Ephrat Livni, Quartz, "Elon Musk wants to put an AI interface in your brain. Should you be worried?," 21 July 2019 The amps most coveted by guitarists do this with vacuum tubes. — Kevin Dupzyk, Popular Mechanics, "What a Fender Amp Looks Like When You Tear It Apart," 24 Mar. 2015 And that posed a fresh challenge, since the tapes were analog and could only be played on a device called a SoundScriber that used old vacuum tube technology. — Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, "Behind-the-scenes audio from Apollo 11 mission made public for first time," 12 Nov. 2018 And a vacuum tube RCA Victor TV, hidden behind the double doors of a mahogany cabinet. — Michelle Slatalla, WSJ, "Why You Should Redecorate Until You Kick the Bucket," 12 Nov. 2018 The Siphon Coffee Brewer is based on a vacuum tube style of making coffee first introduced in 1830. — John Wenz, Popular Mechanics, "This Retro Coffee Maker Brews a Pot With Vacuum Power," 17 Mar. 2015 Clearly the transistor was better than the vacuum tube. — Phil Lapsley, WSJ, "‘The Cryotron Files’ Review: Taking the Cold War to Subzero," 11 Oct. 2018 Hyperloop relies on vacuum tubes and special pods for faster-than-flight travel speeds, at times estimated at around 670 mph. — Dug Begley, Houston Chronicle, "Hyperloop's first step bypasses Houston," 11 July 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'vacuum tube.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Dictionary Entries near vacuum tube

vacuum-tube voltmeter

vacuum ventilation

Statistics for vacuum tube

Time Traveler for vacuum tube

The first known use of vacuum tube was in 1859

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More Definitions for vacuum tube

vacuum tube

noun

English Language Learners Definition of vacuum tube

US : a glass tube that was used in the past in computers, televisions, etc., to control the flow of electricity

See the full definition for vacuum tube in the English Language Learners Dictionary

vacuum tube

Medical Definition of vacuum tube

: an electronic device in which conduction by electrons takes place through a vacuum within a sealed glass or metal container and which has various uses based on the controlled flow of electrons

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