lucifer

Originally a brand name for matches made by Samuel Jones from 1830, soon used generically for self-igniting matches of any brand. From Latin lucifer (“bringer of light”).

• Audio (US):

  (file)

lucifer (plural lucifers)

2. (British, archaic) A self-igniting match, i.e. one which could be lit by striking on any surface (as opposed to safety matches which only light against the material on the side of the box).

   Synonym: barnburner (Mid-Atlantic US)

   Antonym: safety match

   • 1915, George Asaf, song Pack up your Troubles

     While you’ve a lucifer to light your fag,
     Smile, boys, that’s the style.

• → Dutch: lucifer

• ferulic

Borrowed from English lucifer, from Latin lūcifer.

• IPA^(key): /ˈly.siˌfɛr/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: lu‧ci‧fer

lucifer m (plural lucifers, diminutive lucifertje n)

1. match (device to make fire)

• (Flanders, dialectal) stekske

• luciferboekje
• luciferdoos
• luciferkop
• strijklucifer
• veiligheidslucifer

From lūx (“light”) +‎ -fer (“-carrying”). Compare Old Armenian լուսաւոր (lusawor) and Ancient Greek φωσφόρος (phōsphóros).

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈɫuː.kɪ.fɛr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈluː.t͡ʃi.fer]

lūcifer (feminine lūcifera, neuter lūciferum); first/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er)

1. light-bringing

First/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er).

• → Catalan: lucífer
• → English: lucifer
  • → Dutch: lucifer
• → Spanish: lucífero
• Romanian: luceafăr

lūcifer m (genitive lūciferī); second declension

1. alternative letter-case form of Lūcifer

Second-declension noun (nominative singular in -er).

• “lucifer”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “lucifer”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• lucifer in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “lucifer”, in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia‎^[1]
• “lucifer”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “lucifer”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray