Other forms: lasers
A laser is a thin powerful beam of pure light that can cut steel. A laser beam, laser surgery, laser pointer.
The light is one wavelength and all the waves are in step, which is why it stays a narrow beam instead of spreading — that is the whole trick. Lasers read discs, cut metal, measure distance and correct eyesight. Note that the word is an acronym: light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation.
1nounlaserA narrow powerful beam of one-wavelength light.
“The surgeon used a laser to fix the problem with her eyes.”
laser is a light source.
An acronym coined in 1957 for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. It was first called an optical maser.
From LASER, w:light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. coined by Gordon Gould in 1957. Originally called an optical maser.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA