electron tube
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electron tube
n.
A sealed enclosure, either highly evacuated or containing a controlled quantity of gas, in which electrons can be made sufficiently mobile to act as the principal carriers of current between at least one pair of electrodes.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
electron tube
n
(Electronics) an electrical device, such as a valve, in which a flow of electrons between electrodes takes place. Also called: vacuum tube Sometimes shortened to: tube
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
elec′tron tube`
n.
an electronic device that consists typically of a sealed glass bulb containing two or more electrodes, used to generate, amplify, and rectify electric oscillations and alternating currents.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
electron tube
A sealed glass tube containing either a vacuum or a small amount of gas, in which electrons move from a negatively charged electrode to a positively charged one. With the application and varying of an electric or magnetic field, the direction and number of electrons in the tube can be controlled. Electron tubes are used to amplify signals and change AC currents to DC currents. They have been mostly replaced by transistors but are still used in television screens and computer monitors and in microwave technology. Compare vacuum tube.
The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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| Noun | 1. |  electron tube - electronic device consisting of a system of electrodes arranged in an evacuated glass or metal envelopeacorn tube - a small vacuum tube; used at high frequencies anode - a positively charged electrode by which electrons leave an electrical device cathode - a negatively charged electrode that is the source of electrons entering an electrical device circuit, electric circuit, electrical circuit - an electrical device that provides a path for electrical current to flow diode, rectifying tube, rectifying valve - a thermionic tube having two electrodes; used as a rectifier electrode - a conductor used to make electrical contact with some part of a circuit electronic device - a device that accomplishes its purpose electronically electron multiplier - a vacuum tube that amplifies a flow of electrons gas-discharge tube - a tube in which an electric discharge takes place through a gas control grid, grid - an electrode placed between the cathode and anode of a vacuum tube to control the flow of electrons through the tube klystron - an electron tube used to generate or amplify electromagnetic radiation in the microwave region by velocity modulation magnetron - a diode vacuum tube in which the flow of electrons from a central cathode to a cylindrical anode is controlled by crossed magnetic and electric fields; used mainly in microwave oscillators pentode - a thermionic tube having five electrodes plate - the positively charged electrode in a vacuum tube television pickup tube, television-camera tube - a tube that rapidly scans an optical image and converts it into electronic signals tetrode - a thermionic tube having four electrodes triode - a thermionic vacuum tube having three electrodes; fluctuations of the charge on the grid control the flow from cathode to anode which makes amplification possible X-ray tube - a vacuum tube containing a metal target onto which a beam of electrons is directed at high energy for the generation of X rays |
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