Noah Webster's Dictionary 1. (n.) Something inclosing a light, and protecting it from wind, rain, etc. ; -- sometimes portable, as a closed vessel or case of horn, perforated tin, glass, oiled paper, or other material, having a lamp or candle within; sometimes fixed, as the glazed enclosure of a street light, or of a lighthouse light. 2. (n.) An open structure of light material set upon a roof, to give light and air to the interior. 3. (n.) A cage or open chamber of rich architecture, open below into the building or tower which it crowns. 4. (n.) A smaller and secondary cupola crowning a larger one, for ornament, or to admit light; such as the lantern of the cupola of the Capitol at Washington, or that of the Florence cathedral. 5. (n.) A lantern pinion or trundle wheel. See Lantern pinion (below). 6. (n.) A kind of cage inserted in a stuffing box and surrounding a piston rod, to separate the packing into two parts and form a chamber between for the reception of steam, etc. ; -- called also lantern brass. 7. (n.) A perforated barrel to form a core upon. 8. (n.) See Aristotle's lantern. 9. (v. t.) To furnish with a lantern; as, to lantern a lighthouse. Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia LANTERN lan'-tern (phanos, phaino, "to give light"): Lanterns were carried by the mob which arrested Jesus in Gethsemane (John 18:3, probably better "torches"). The word "lantern" in the time of early versions had a much wider significance than now. The Romans, however, had lanterns in the times of Christ, made by use of translucent skins, bladders, or thin plates of horn.