noun
- a tough, highly flammable substance consisting essentially of cellulose nitrate and camphor, used in the manufacture of motion-picture and x-ray film and other products.
- motion-picture film.
adjective
- Informal. of or involving motion pictures.
noun
- a flammable thermoplastic material consisting of cellulose nitrate mixed with a plasticizer, usually camphor: used in sheets, rods, and tubes for making a wide range of articles
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- a cellulose derivative used for coating film
- one of the transparent sheets on which the constituent drawings of an animated film are prepared
- a transparent sheet used as an overlay in artwork
- cinema film
transparent plastic made from nitro-celluloses and camphor, 1871, trademark name (reg. U.S.), a hybrid coined by U.S. inventor John Wesley Hyatt (1837-1900) from cellulose + Greek-based suffix -oid. Used figuratively for “motion pictures” from 1934. Abbreviated form cell “sheet of celluloid” is from 1933 (cf. cel).