noun pl. cameras -·eras, camerae -·erae′ (-ər ē′)

1. a chamber; specif., the private office of a judge
2. camera obscura

3. Etymology: < camera obscura

   a device for taking photographs, consisting essentially of a closed box containing a sensitized plate or film on which an image is formed when light enters the box through a lens or hole
4. TV that part of the transmitter that consists of a lens and a special cathode-ray tube containing a plate on which the image to be televised is projected for transformation into electrical signals

Etymology: L camera, vault < Gr kamara, vaulted chamber < IE base *kam-, to arch