Also 7–8 (and 9 dial.) lam-black. A pigment consisting of almost pure carbon in a state of fine division; made by collecting the soot produced by burning oil or (now usually) gas. Also attrib., as in lamp-black-ink; lamp-black furnace, an apparatus for making lamp-black.
1598. R. Haydocke, trans. Lomazzo, III. iv. 99. The shels of almondes burnt, ball blacke, Lampe-blacke.
1612. Peacham, Gentl. Exerc., I. 76. The making of ordinary lamp blacke. Take a torch or linke, and hold it vnder the bottome of a latten basen, and as it groweth to be furd and blacke within, strike it with a feather into some shell or other, and grind it with gumme water.
1723. J. Smith, Art Paint. in Oyl (ed. 5), 29. Lam-black, a Colour of so greasy a nature.
1772. Van Haake, in Abridg. Specif. Ship Building (1862), 23. [To the deposit on the interior of a vessel held over the cylinder in which the mineral is heated so as to receive the smoke] I give the name of lamp black.
1799. G. Smith, Laboratory, II. 37. Draw with the lamp-black-ink lines from one side to the other.
1879. G. Prescott, Sp. Telephone, 38. The best substance for these disks is lamp-black, such as is produced by the burning of any of the lighter hydrocarbons.
