[a. L. camera (camara) vault, arched chamber, = Gr. καμάρα anything with an arched cover. In late L. in sense ‘chamber,’ as also It., Pg. camera, Pg., Sp. camara, Pr. cambra, F. cambre, chambre: see CHAMBER. Used in Eng. only as a Latin or alien word, until popularized in connection with photography.]
ǁ 1. In Latin sense: An arched or vaulted roof or chamber. Given in mod. Dicts., but probably not in Eng. use, exc. in such cases as ‘the Camera’ of the Radcliffe Library at Oxford.
1708. Kersey, Camera, (L.) a vaulted or arched Building, an Upper-Chamber or Gallery.
1730–6. Bailey, Camera, a vault, roof, or upper gallery; (in the title of Mus. Books) signifies chamber-musick, or musick for private consorts, in distinction to musick used in chapels and publick consorts.
1863. Oxf. Univ. Cal., 63. The building known till lately as ‘the Radcliffe Library’ is now used as a Reading Room in connection with the Bodleian Library under the name of ‘Camera Bodleiana.’ [In the Latin Statute of 1856 the Radcliffe building was described as a camera.]
b. ‘Used in the Latin law proceedings for the judge’s chamber’ (Tomlins); hence the phrase in camerâ,’ i.e., in the judge’s private chamber, instead of ‘in open court.’
ǁ 2. In reference to Italy and Spain: A chamber; a council or legislative chamber; one of the departments of the papal curia.
1712. Lond. Gaz., 5068/1. A Declaration read … by the Secretary of the Camera.
1832. G. Downes, Lett. Cont. Countries, I. 343. The Camera, or Chamber, adjoining the body of the church, contains ten large frescoes by Raphael.
1841. Spalding, Italy & It. Isl., III. 114. The Camera or Treasury, whose president, the Camerlengo, is assisted by the Auditor, the Treasurer-general, and Assessors.
3. Optics. Short for camera obscura (see 4 a).
1727–51. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Camera Obscura, Another portable camera may be thus made.
1760. Sterne, Tr. Shandy (1793), I. 133. Others … will make a drawing of you in the Camera.
1770. Court Misc., April. In the plate we have represented the different sorts of cameras. Fig. I is of the first kind … or camera obscura.
1845. Athenæum, 22 Feb., 202.
1878. Foster, Phys., III. ii. 397. The eye is a camera.
b. esp. That form used in photography.
1840. E. Riddle, Sci. & Nat. Philos. (1844), 359. Producing pictures with the aid of the Camera, by the … process of M. Daguerre.
1853. R. Hunt, Man. Photogr., 36. The photographic picture, which is invisible when the plate is taken from the Camera.
1859. Sala, Tw. round Clock, 111. He throws the curtain of the camera over his head.
4. Camera obscura [L.; lit. ‘dark chamber’].
a. Optics. An instrument consisting of a darkened chamber or box, into which light is admitted through a double convex lens, forming an image of external objects on a surface of paper, glass, etc., placed at the focus of the lens.
[1668. Phil. Trans., III. 741.]
1727–51. Chambers, Cycl., s.v., Construction of a portable camera obscura.
1796. Hutton, Math. Dict., I. 237. Various sorts of camera obscuras.
1822. Imison, Sc. & Art, I. 255. The eye is … no more than a camera obscura.
1841. Emerson, Misc. (1853), 215. The Daguerreotypist, with camera-obscura and silver plate.
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., Camera obscura … was described by Leonardo da Vinci, in 1500…. Baptista Porta, in 1589, mentions it in his book on ‘Natural Magic.’
b. lit. Dark chamber or room.
1725. Pope, Lett. to E. Blount, 2 June. When you shut the doors of this grotto, it becomes on the instant, from a luminous room, a Camera obscura.
1753. Richardson, Grandison (1781), III. xvii. 144. Shall I … make a Lover’s Camera Obscura for you?
5. Camera lucida [L.; lit. ‘light chamber,’ after camera obscura]. Optics. † a. (see quot. 1753) Obs. b. An instrument by which the rays of light from an object are reflected by a peculiarly-shaped prism, and produce an image on paper placed beneath the instrument, whilst the eye at the same time can see directly the pencil with which the image is being traced.
[1668. Hook, in Phil. Trans., III. 741.]
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., Camera Lucida, a contrivance of Dr. Hook, for making the image of anything appear on a wall in a light room, either by day or night.
1831. Brewster, Optics, xl. § 195. Camera Lucida … invented by Dr. Wollaston … has come into very general use for … copying and reducing drawings.
1832. Gell, Pompeiana, I. v. 79. The original drawing as obtained by the camera lucida.
