Antenna
[æn'tenə] or [æn'tɛnə]
Definition
(noun.) one of a pair of mobile appendages on the head of e.g. insects and crustaceans; typically sensitive to touch and taste.
(noun.) an electrical device that sends or receives radio or television signals.
(noun.) sensitivity similar to that of a receptor organ; 'he had a special antenna for public relations'.
Typed by Camilla--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) A movable, articulated organ of sensation, attached to the heads of insects and Crustacea. There are two in the former, and usually four in the latter. They are used as organs of touch, and in some species of Crustacea the cavity of the ear is situated near the basal joint. In insects, they are popularly called horns, and also feelers. The term in also applied to similar organs on the heads of other arthropods and of annelids.
Inputed by Cornelia
Examples
- When the wireless operator wishes to send a message to another station he listens in, as it is called, by connecting his receiving apparatus with the adjacent antenna and the ground. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- The antenna has electrical capacity, and when it is connected with the other apparatus needful to produce the oscillations it disturbs the earth’s magnetic field. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- The larger the antenna the longer will be the wave length and the greater the power of the apparatus. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- One is to insert a hot-wire current meter between the antenna and the inductance, which indicates the strength of the oscillatory current that has been established. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- On ships the antenna is fastened to the masts. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- The great shipping lines established wireless stations on their vessels, and the antenna were soon to be seen on points of vantage along every coast. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- Wireless stations on shore are marked by very tall masts, which support a single wire, or a set of wires, which are known as the _antenna_. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- For temporary service, as in the case of military operations, the antenna is frequently attached to captive balloons or kites, and so suspended high in air. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- Fabre, as an active, minute insect, furnished with six legs, two long antennae, and four eyes. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- He then stopped as though waiting for my reply, pricking up his antennae-like ears and cocking his strange-looking eyes still further toward me. Edgar Rice Burroughs. A Princess of Mars.
Editor: Yvonne