Meanings
plural picture tubes
- historicalbusinessThe cathode ray tube which produced moving images on the screen of a television set, prior to the development of LEDs.
The bulky, squarish, heavy picture tube, the standard television technology for more than 60 years, is heading for the dustbin of history much faster than anyone expected.
2006 May 7, Eric A. Taub, “Picture Tubes Are Fading Into the Past”, in New York Times, retrieved 12 Nov 20151 more example
The conventional TV picture tube, whose monstrous bubble of vacuum is responsible for most of the bulk of the TV cabinet, may be on its way out. Electronics men have long dreamed of shrinking the tube to a flat plate not much bigger than the picture.
1955 May 7, “Science: Slimmer TV”, in Time, retrieved 12 Nov 2015
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna cathode-ray tube in a television receiver; translates the received signal into a picture on a luminescent screen
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Cite this entry
picture tube. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/picture%20tube
“picture tube.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/picture%20tube. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “picture tube,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/picture%20tube.
Source: picture tube on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.