from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Film \Film\, n. [AS. film skin, fr. fell skin; akin to fylmen
membrane, OFries. filmene skin. See {Fell} skin.]
1. A thin skin; a pellicle; a membranous covering, causing
opacity.
[1913 Webster]
He from thick films shall purge the visual ray.
--Pope.
[1913 Webster]
2. hence, any thin layer covering a surface.
[1913 Webster +PJC]
3. A slender thread, as that of a cobweb.
[1913 Webster]
Her whip of cricket's bone, the lash of film.
--Shak.
[1913 Webster]
4. (Photog.) The layer, usually of gelatin or collodion,
containing the sensitive salts of photographic plates.
[PJC]
5. (Photog.) a flexible sheet of celluloid or other plastic
material to which a light-sensitive layer has been
applied, used for recording images by the processes of
photography. It is commonly used in rolls mounted within
light-proof canisters suitable for simple insertion into
cameras designed for such canisters. On such rolls,
varying numbers of photographs may be taken before the
canister needs to be replaced.
[PJC]
6. a motion picture.
[PJC]
7. the art of making motion pictures; -- used mostly in the
phrase the film.
[PJC]
8. a thin transparent sheet of plastic, used for wrapping
objects; as, polyethylene film.
[PJC]
{Celluloid film} (Photog.), a thin flexible sheet of
celluloid, coated with a sensitized emulsion of gelatin,
and used as a substitute for photographic plates.
{Cut film} (Photog.), a celluloid film cut into pieces
suitable for use in a camera.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]