Meanings
nounlight mill (plural light mills)
plural light mills
- An airtight glass bulb containing a partial vacuum and a set of vanes, mounted on a spindle, which rotate when exposed to light, providing a quantitative measurement of electromagnetic radiation intensity.
Synonyms: Crookes radiometer
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAn airtight glass bulb containing a partial vacuum and a set of vanes, mounted on a spindle, which rotate when exposed to light, providing a quantitative measurement of electromagnetic radiation intensity.
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Origin
By analogy with windmill and water mill.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
light mill. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/light%20mill
MLA
“light mill.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/light%20mill. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “light mill,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/light%20mill.
Source: light mill on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.