black hole

== English == === Alternative forms === black-hole, blackhole === Etymology === In reference to the physical concept (region of spacetime with extreme gravitational pull), physicist Hong-Yee Chiu attributed the term to his colleague Robert H. Dicke, who stated around 1960–1961 that the objects were like the Black Hole of Calcutta. The first known usage in print was by journalist Ann Ewing in 1964. Widespread popularization of the term is generally credited to a lecture in 1967 by the physicist John Wheeler. === Pronunciation === (US) IPA(key): /blæk ˈhoʊl/ (UK) IPA(key): /blæk ˈhəʊl/ === Noun === black hole (plural black holes) A place of punitive confinement; a lockup or cell; a military guardroom. [from 18th c.] 1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 282: ‘I will convince you that I do know [my duty] by clapping you for the remainder of the night into the black hole, young gentleman, do you see, and have no doubt but the air of that agreeable apartment will restore your senses.’ (physics) A region of spacetime that exerts a gravitational pull strong enough that no matter or energy, not even light, can escape it. [from 20th c.] (figuratively) A void into which things disappear for good; an inscrutable area or subject. [from 20th c.] 2004 November 16, Jenifer Hanen, “How I fell down an Internet Black Hole....”, Black Phoebe, at www.blackphoebe.com [4] I finished some client work and gave myself 30 minutes to fall down one of my favorite internet black holes: genealogical research. Four hours plus some later, my eyes were burning in my head (aviation) A dangerous optical illusion that can occur on a nighttime approach with dark, featureless terrain between the aircraft and a brightly-lit runway, where the aircraft appears to the pilots to be higher up than it actually is, potentially triggering a premature or overly-steep descent and a crash short of the runway. (Internet, often attributive) A place where incoming traffic is silently discarded. (programming) A bit bucket; a place of permanent oblivion for data. ==== Antonyms ==== (antonym(s) of “a region with extreme gravitational pull”): white hole ==== Hypernyms ==== hole ==== Hyponyms ==== ==== Coordinate terms ==== (celestial body): ==== Derived terms ==== (celestial body): ==== Related terms ==== (celestial body): white hole wormhole (body with a characteristic emission spectrum): blackbody (black body) ==== Descendants ==== → Bengali: ব্ল্যাকহোল (blêkhol), ব্ল্যাক হোল (blêk hol) → Japanese: ブラックホール (burakku hōru) → Korean: 블랙홀 (beullaekhol) ==== Translations ==== ==== See also ==== (celestial body): dumb hole ==== Further reading ==== (celestial body): black hole on Wikipedia.Wikipedia === Verb === black hole (third-person singular simple present black holes, present participle black holing, simple past and past participle black holed) (transitive, Internet) To redirect (network traffic, etc.) nowhere; to discard (incoming traffic). ==== Coordinate terms ==== === References === “black hole”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.