BLACK HOLE • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Black hole

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/blæk hoʊl/ Listen

noun

black hole n.

A dungeon or dark cell in a prison; a military lock-up or guardroom; now commonly with allusion to the cell (the Black Hole) in a fort at Calcutta (called the Black Hole of Calcutta), into which 146 English prisoners were thrust by the nabob Suraja Dowla on the night of June 20, 1765, and in which 123 of the prisoners died before morning from lack of air. "A discipline of unlimited autocracy, upheld by rods, and ferules, and the black hole."

(Physics, Astron.) An astronomical object whose mass is so condensed that the gravitational force does not allow anything, even light, to escape from its outer limit (the event horizon). The existence of such objects was first proposed from theoretical considerations. Because light cannot escape from such objects, they have not yet been detected with certainty (1998), but several "candidates" have been observed whose properties strongly suggest that they are black holes. Some theorists suggest that the centers of many galaxies may have large black holes at their cores. See also escape velocity.

A place into which things may enter, but can never emerge. (Fig., Jocose) "He was so disorganized his office was a black hole."

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Etymology of 'Black hole'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Black hole" Quotes from Famous Books

... preoccupation with the relief and elation of a drama finished, had their first warning of what was to come in a voice that did not seem like the voice of the tenderfoot as they had heard it, but of another man. And Leddy was looking at a black hole in a rim of steel which, though twenty yards away, seemed hot against his forehead, ...

— Over the Pass • Frederick Palmer

... halt before a black hole in the trench wall, like the entrance to a cave, and bent down and shouted into the opening with a ring of indescribable joy in his voice—with a rejoicing that sounded as if it ...

— Men in War • Andreas Latzko

... interesting, but talk to me about it after you get a fellow out of this black hole. I thought I felt a snake right then. We used to kill 'em in here, too. Poke the ...

— The Outdoor Chums - The First Tour of the Rod, Gun and Camera Club • Captain Quincy Allen

... schools, especially in Belfast, are shamefully over-crowded. Classes are held on the stairs, in the cloak-room, the hall, or the yard. For the more fortunate, class-rooms are provided with an air-space per individual only slightly less than that available in the Black Hole of Calcutta. All over the country, children go to school breakfastless and stupid with hunger, and the local authorities have no power to feed them as in England, and in most European countries. Then again, even where the physical conditions ...

— The Open Secret of Ireland • T. M. Kettle

... my eyes as the mantel swung slowly outward, revealing the black hole beyond. I glanced about helplessly, and sprang to the door of the room to call back Farrell. He was not in the upper hall, but as my eyes swept its length I remembered a half-burned candle in the chamber opposite. By the time I returned with it ...

— My Lady of Doubt • Randall Parrish

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