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blackout
[ blak-out ]
noun
- the extinguishing or concealment of all visible lights in a city, military post, etc., usually as a precaution against air raids.
- a period during a massive power failure when the lack of electricity for illumination results in utter darkness except from emergency sources, as candles.
- Theater.
- the extinguishing of all stage lights, as in closing a vaudeville skit or separating the scenes of a play.
- Also called blackout skit. a skit ending in a blackout.
- Pathology.
- temporary loss of consciousness or vision:
She suffered a blackout from the blow on the head.
- a period of total memory loss, as one induced by an accident or prolonged alcoholic drinking:
The patient cannot account for the bizarre things he did during his blackout.
- a brief, passing lapse of memory:
An actor may have an occasional blackout and forget a line or two.
- complete stoppage of a communications medium, as by a strike, catastrophe, electrical storm, etc.: a radio blackout.
a newspaper blackout;
a radio blackout.
- a stoppage, suppression, or obliteration:
a news blackout.
- a period during which a special sales offer, fare rate, or other bargain is not available:
The airline's discount on fares does not apply during the Christmas week blackout.
- Radio and Television. a prohibition that is imposed on the broadcasting of an event and has the purpose of encouraging or ensuring ticket sales.
blackout
/ ˈæ첹ʊ /
noun
- the extinguishing or hiding of all artificial light, esp in a city visible to an enemy attack from the air
- a momentary loss of consciousness, vision, or memory
- a temporary electrical power failure or cut
- electronics a temporary loss of sensitivity in a valve following a short strong pulse
- a temporary loss of radio communications between a spacecraft and earth, esp on re-entry into the earth's atmosphere
- the suspension of radio or television broadcasting, as by a strike or for political reasons
verb
- tr to obliterate or extinguish (lights)
- tr to create a blackout in (a city etc)
- intr to lose vision, consciousness, or memory temporarily
- tr, adverb to stop (news, a television programme) from being released or broadcast
blackout
- The complete loss of electrical power in a particular area. Blackouts can result from a natural disaster, a manmade catastrophe, or simply from an excess of energy demand over supply. ( Compare brownout .)
Notes
Word History and Origins
Origin of blackout1
Example Sentences
The light which sits above the Big Ben bell at the top of the Elizabeth Tower, was switched off at the outbreak of war in 1939 to comply with blackout regulations.
The agency gave actors excuses including earthquakes, blackouts, sick employees and bank and mail delays to justify the missing funds, the district attorney’s office said.
By contrast, when a power cable linking Estonia and Finland was severed in December 2024, it took several months to repair but caused no blackouts.
Once the blackout fog clears and the shame descends, Saxon allows some rare moments of vulnerability to penetrate his swaggering façade.
El-Kadhi told Salon that before the electrical blackout imposed on Oct.
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