radarn.
/ˈreɪdɑː/, U.S. /ˈreɪˌdɑr/ Originally U.S.
1.
a. A system for detecting the presence of distant objects, and determining their direction, distance, or motion, by transmitting pulses of radio waves or microwaves and detecting or measuring the return of the waves after they have been reflected by the objects; a similar system in which a return signal is automatically transmitted by a suitably equipped target when it receives the outgoing waves (also called secondary radar). Also: a particular apparatus or installation using this. Cf. radiolocation n. 2.Major uses of radar include the detection and tracking of airborne phenomena, such as aircraft, missiles, weather systems, and clouds (cf. weather radar n. at weather n. Compounds 2); and measurement of the speed of approaching vehicles and other moving objects (cf. Doppler radar at Doppler n.), and of the distance of nearby astronomical objects.The use of radio echoes for detection dates from the early 20th cent. In 1904 Christian Huelsmeyer applied for a German patent describing an anti-collision device for ships employing short radio-frequency waves from a spark gap, whose echo caused an audible signal to sound. In the 1930s pulsed systems for detecting aircraft were developed in the United States and in France.In 1934 the growing threat from Germany led Britain's Air Ministry to ask Robert Watson-Watt, who had developed means for the radio detection of thunderstorms, if a death ray could be developed to oppose approaching enemy aircraft. He replied that this was impracticable, but that detection using reflected radio waves was more feasible. By 1938 there was a chain of radar stations along Britain's south coast, and airborne radar sets soon followed. The technique was called radio direction-finding, or RDF.By 1940 both the United States and Germany had developed pulsed forms of radar, but they lacked the practical utility of the British system. However, it is the American name ‘radar’ by which the system is now known. The word has been the basis of neologisms for analogous techniques, as sonar, lidar, and lodar (cf. sense 3).primary, pulse, weather radar: see the first element.
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the mind > attention and judgement > discovery > instrument for detection > [noun] > radar system
radiolocation1935
televisibility1940
radar1941
precision approach radar1950
PAR1951
MTI1956
AWACS1966
the mind > attention and judgement > discovery > instrument for detection > [noun] > radar system > apparatus used in
radiolocator1927
radar1941
society > communication > telecommunication > radio communications > [noun] > other methods or operations > radar
radar1941
society > communication > telecommunication > radio communications > radio equipment > [noun] > radar apparatus
radar1941
set1948
rig1966
1940 in L. A. Gebhard Evol. Naval Radio-electronics & Contrib. Naval Res. Lab. (1979) iv. 170 The type of radio equipment which has been developed under Special Project No. 1 and which has been referred to as ‘Radio Ranging Equipment’.. will hereafter be known as ‘Radio Detection and Ranging Equipment’.]
1941 N.Y. Times 2 Oct. c24 The [depth] bombs must be tied to a grid of listening devices, radars and plotting instruments.
1944 Science 29 Dec. 589/1 (heading) Echolocation by blind men, bats and radar.
1944 Ld. Alanbrooke Diary 12 Apr. in War Diaries (2001) 539 Then the WO Scientific advisor to discuss the action of rockets controlled by radar against jet aeroplanes operating in the stratosphere.
1957 Economist 7 Sept. 831 (advt.) The performance of modern aircraft must be matched by the radio, radar and Doppler navigational aids necessary for their safe and efficient operation.
1971 D. W. Sciama Mod. Cosmol. i. 2 The distance of the Sun is determined most accurately by radar.
1985 Times 5 Jan. 1/7 The flying object had been picked up by Norwegian radar well outside Norwegian airspace.
1991 Newsweek 28 Jan. 21/3 Cratered runways can be repaved and SAM radars can be repaired in a matter of days.
2002 D. Cassidy et al. Understanding Physics i. viii. 364/1 Radar is now used for innumerable tasks, all of which require some form of detection at distance: police detection of speeders, air traffic controllers following the path of aircraft, [etc.]
b. The practice of using radar, as a field of study.
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1957 R. Hanbury Brown & A. C. B. Lovell Explor. Space by Radio x. 178 The possibility of transmitting a pulse of radio signals to the moon..was often discussed in the early days of radar.
1983 J. S. Hey Radio Universe (ed. 3) vi. 109 It is well known in radar that each microsecond..corresponds to 150 m of range.
1991 R. Wohleben et al. Interferometry in Radioastron. viii. 136 Interferometric methods have also found favour in the field of radar.
2. figurative. A person's awareness or intuition; a special sensitivity to factors, trends, influences, etc., in a particular area of activity or expertise. Cf. gaydar n.
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the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > intuition > [noun]
sense1555
light of nature1561
intuitiona1600
instinct1600
perception1701
persentiscency1712
sixth sense1761
Anschauung1820
intuitiveness1873
intuitivism1883
seerhood1884
third eye1921
radar1949
1945 Los Angeles Times 6 Dec. ii. 9/1 Nicknames pinned on Harry Gilmer, Alabama's sensational passer: Leaping Harry, Dead-Eye Harry, the Arm, Electric Eye, Mr. Radar.]
1949 A. Miller Death of Salesman ii. 100 Stanley: Geez, how'd ya know? Happy: I got radar or something.
1959 Listener 1 Jan. 31/3 With that political radar with which all good Levantine rulers are endowed, he succeeded for years.
1976 P. Alexander Death of Thin-skinned Animal xviii. 183 That's what Joan thinks..intuition, female radar, or maybe she read it in the tea-leaves.
1994 Denver Post 17 Jan. c4/1 The key is taking control of your career while keeping your radar tuned to changes at work.
2006 Aberdeen (S. Dakota) Amer. News (Nexis) 8 Dec. b6 There were suddenly several who got a guitar, and that got my radar up a bit... And I had to evaluate whether guitars were appropriate..for inmates to have.
3. A detection system which works on the principle of detecting reflected signals like radar, but uses a medium other than radio waves and microwaves, such as light or sound. Frequently with distinguishing word. Cf. lidar n., sodar n., sonar n. 1aSuch systems may be man-made or natural (in animals such as bats). Cf. echolocation n.
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the mind > attention and judgement > discovery > instrument for detection > [noun] > radar system > using laser radiation
radar1956
lidar1963
1956 J. Needham Sci. & Civilization in China II. 619 Bats and their radar.
1963 Bull. Amer. Meteorol. Soc. 44 568/1 Scattering at 180°, or back-scattering, is the basis for both the micro~wave radar and the lidar (laser radar).
1977 Audubon Sept. 157/2 Phil Russell ‘listens’ to smog... Using ‘sodar’—also known as acoustic radar—he transmits sound pulses from 13 stations and listens for echoes.
1984 B. W. Jones Solar Syst. (BNC) 144 Give two reasons why ‘radar’ with light waves would not be a very useful probe of distant planets.
2007 R. Beattie Campsite Compan. iii. 45 A bat's radar is so good that it's not going to fly into anybody.
Phrases
In phrases in which the detection of something, or the relative amount of attention given to it, is indicated by whether it registers on a figurative radar, as below the radar, off the radar, on the radar, under the radar, etc.; cf. a blip on the radar (screen) at blip n.1 Additions a.
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1981 Washington Post 16 Apr. a18/1 Like some giant weapons system that can come in under the radar, Janet Cooke's invention eluded detection by the normal protective procedures and techniques that are designed to catch..more commonplace slides and lapses.]
1982 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 8 May 13/5 Despite all the checks, a piece occasionally gets in under the radar... The British Broadcasting Corp. filed a seemingly harmless reaction piece which led to fury..at fleet headquarters.
1989 Los Angeles Times 30 Apr. v. 1/5 On most issues, legislators understand that they are functioning below the radar of public scrutiny.
1992 Boston Globe (Nexis) 30 Oct. 14 Abrams fell off the New York media radar for two weeks after his nasty victory..in last month's Democratic primary.
1998 Indianapolis Star 25 Jan. e9/3 Among the issues on his legislative radar are campaign finance reform, welfare-to-work measures, and child labor.
2003 Ice Oct. 112/3 Used to be huge, but has now slipped off the radar completely.
2004 N. Barham Dis/Connected 213 They have no problem being amoral. Copyright isn't even on their radar.
Compounds
C1.
a. General attributive uses with the meaning ‘of or relating to, or involving radar’, ‘operating by means of radar’, ‘equipped with radar’.
radar altimeter n.
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1945 N.Y. Times 20 Jan. 10/7 For the past two years radar altimeter devices have been in production which, if adapted to transport planes as approach warnings..would give pilots timely warning to escape striking a mountainside.
1978 Nature 10 Aug. 540/1 Balloon-borne radar altimeters have also been used to map surface topography in Antarctica.
1990 P. Kearey & F. J. Vine Global Tectonics x. 225 The geoid was mapped by radar altimeters carried in orbiting satellites.
radar beam n.
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1942 R. L. Garman Land Mass Simulator (U.S. Govt. Declassified Doc. PB3817) 1 This applies primarily to land masses which subtend an angle larger than the radar beam.
1970 A. C. Clarke Glide Path (ed. 2) i. 13 Instead of slicing straight on out into space as the curve of the earth fell away beneath it, the radar beam was being bent down by some peculiarity of the atmosphere.
2004 Post-Standard (Syracuse, N.Y.) 29 Dec. b2/3 Data that records elevation with a kind of radar beam was also collected that year.
radar dish n.
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1950 U.S. Patent 2,498,056 4/2 [Nutator for a radar antenna.] The radar dish is shown at 42.
1969 New Yorker 11 Oct. 51/1 In the gaunt shade of oil rigs and radar dishes.
1990 D. Bolger Journey Home (1991) i. 18 Like a discarded prop from a B-movie, a radar dish revolved its head slowly at the crossroads by the perimeter fence.
radar echo n.
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1945 Nature 15 Sept. 319/2 The end or ‘trailing edge’ [of the pulse] marks the beginning of an invaluable clear period in which the radar echoes..can be received free from the overlaying and interfering effect of the primary signal.
1962 F. I. Ordway et al. Basic Astronautics iii. 65 The first radar echoes were returned from the Moon in 1946.
2007 Atmospheric Res. 83 158/1 The first CG [= cloud to ground] lightning took place between 20 and 25 min after the first significant radar echo.
radar equipment n.
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1942 Ogden (Utah) Stand.-Examiner 27 Aug. b1/2 Marine radio operator students will be coming in regularly for training in accompaniment with the navy RADAR equipment.
1976 Daily Mirror 16 July 2/2 The cases are believed to contain aircraft parts and radar equipment.
2000 A. Resnick Due to Weather xix. 129 Meteorologists track weather systems with Doppler radar equipment and can tell people in the path of a tornado exactly where it is and where it is going.
radar image n.
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1946 Hammond (Indiana) Times 5 Feb. 1/6 A radar image of the Chicago-Calumet area will be flashed on special screens in the Museum of Science and Industry.
1991 New Scientist 13 Apr. 12/1 Radar images from the Magellan spacecraft have confirmed the existence of volcanoes on Venus.
2003 N. Calder Magic Universe 213 Mountains and plains became visible in the radar images, with great frozen rivers of lava and pancake-like volcanic domes.
radar operator n.
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1942 Charleston (W. Va.) Gaz. 13 Mar. 9/2 (heading) Radar Operator..C. B. Talkington of Clarksburg enlisted in the naval reserve here..to operate one of the radars, the navy’s new secret device for airplane detection.
1967 L. B. Archer in G. Wills & R. Yearsley Handbk. Managem. Technol. vii. 129 Some of the early experiments [in ergonomics] were to determine the best spacing of markings on instrument dials so that the pilot or gunner or radar operator could read them rapidly and accurately.
1990 E. Harth Dawn of Millennium (1991) ix. 139 How many times in the past have nervous radar operators in their subarctic listening posts mistaken a flight of geese for incoming missiles?
radar pulse n.
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1945 Fresno (Calif.) Bee 15 Aug. 9/4 If the other craft is friendly, the interrogating radar pulse will activate a responder radar set.
1984 C. R. Kitchin Astrophysical Techniques ii. 221 The radar pulse will be refracted and delayed by the Earth's atmosphere.
2006 P. Moore Amateur Astronomer (ed. 12) iv. 34 A radar pulse, like visible light, moves at 186,000 miles per second.
radar receiver n.
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1943 Nebraska State Jrnl. 30 May 5/3 On striking the surface of an enemy plane, the beam is reflected earthward, where it is picked up by a radar receiver.
1962 J. E. van Riper Man's Physical World ii. 25 By rotating both the transmission beam and a directional receiver antenna, the positions of recognizable echo surfaces are plotted on a radar receiver as small blips of light and calibrated for distance.
2005 R. J. Sweet Weekend Navigator xxiv. 224/2 The radar receiver must operate on the same frequency as the transmitter.
radar reconnaissance n.
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1945 Fresno (Calif.) Bee 13 Oct. 2/8 Jack escaped Japanese bullets while in charge of an advanced radar reconnaissance party which landed on Woodlark Island prior to occupation forces.
1959 Daily Tel. 7 Mar. 7/3 An area equal to the whole of the Mediterranean could be covered in a single radar reconnaissance by one aircraft.
1994 M. Honey Hostile Acts viii. 200 The Reagan administration sold the Arab state $8.5 million worth of AWAC radar reconnaissance planes.
radar set n.
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1942 G. A. Fowler Operational Rep. on B-24 (U.S. Govt. Declassified Doc. PB3901) 1 A log covering the tests..made with a 10 cm. A.S.V. radar set.
1966 L. Deighton Billion-Dollar Brain xiii. 123 Built into the saddle was a small Doppler radar set.
2000 J. A. Dewar et al. Expandability 21st Cent. Army iii. 55 A Patriot fire unit consists of a radar set, the engagement control station.., the equipment power plant.., an antenna mast group.., and eight remotely controlled launchers.
radar signal n.
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1945 Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 21 Jan. a11/3 Forty of us were left on the sub when it picked up a radar signal that a plane was in the vicinity and dived.
1969 Times 25 Mar. 12/6 By bouncing radar signals off Venus, scientists from the United States have counted the numbers of electrons in the space between the planets.
2000 G. Butler & F. McManus Psychology ii. 16 These measures..have many practical uses, for example in training air traffic controllers, whose decisions about the presence or absence of a radar signal may make the difference between a safe landing and a disaster.
radar station n.
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1943 Nebraska State Jrnl. 15 Aug. a6/4 (caption to map of Crete) Key cities... Naval Base... Radar station... Seaplane base.
1978 R. V. Jones Most Secret War xxiii. 196 It happened that this sortie was also plotted by a German radar station north-west of Brest.
2001 Science 7 Dec. 2072/3 The team searched back through years of data from radar stations close to the poles, the best place to monitor the ionosphere.
radar system n.
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1941 H. M. James Radiation Lab. Special Rep. Correction of Scanning of Ship Borne Radar Syst. (U.S. Govt. Declassified Doc. PB3754) 1 If the spinner of a radar system is fixed solidly to a ship's deck..the resulting scan..will be distorted by the ship's motion.
1962 J. Clemow Missile Guidance ii. 45 It is possible to have a passive radar system where a receiver carried in the missile detects the direction of the source of radar signals from the target.
1992 New Scientist 5 Dec. 40/2 The first radar system designed to produce detailed orbit information about individual meteoroids down to a size of 100 micrometres.
radar transmitter n.
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1943 Herald-Press (St. Joseph, Mich.) 22 June 5/2 (caption) Craftsman at a New England plant are testing radar transmitters before shipment to the U.S. Navy.
1986 T. Clancy Red Storm Rising (1988) xx. 278 The fundamental choice was whether or not to radiate, to use their radar transmitters.
1998 R. Blank in A. D. English Changing Face War iii. 201 Flat metal surfaces perpendicular to the radar transmitter are the most easily detected.
radar wave n.
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1945 Chillicothe (Missouri) Constitution-Tribune 19 Apr. 4/8 Electricity aboard a big bomber is called upon to..start the engines, change the propeller pitch,..detect and identify ground units by radar waves, and provide light and heat for the crew.
1986 R. Dawkins Blind Watchmaker (BNC) 30 The radar waves bounce back off the cars that approach, and are registered by the receiving apparatus.
2001 Conservation Biol. 15 873/2 As the vegetation biomass increased, the radar waves attenuated much faster while travelling in the canopy.
b. Instrumental.
radar-controlled adj.
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1944 Athens (Ohio) Messenger 20 Dec. 3/1 (advt.) A thorough treatment of..jet-propelled planes, radar-controlled tanks, submarines, battleships, carriers, etc.
1978 R. V. Jones Most Secret War xxxi. 265 He also concluded that some of the lights were radar-controlled.
1994 New Scientist 4 June 3/3 When the first radar-controlled gun was developed, it looked as though human control over weapons was being ceded to an anonymous machine.
radar-directed adj.
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1944 Berkshire Evening Eagle (Pittsfield, Mass.) 11 May 19/1 The foil strips..dumped from the skies by bomber and fighter planes..become the target of radar-directed guns, while the planes themselves move out of the line of fire.
1987 IEEE Spectrum Feb. 28 The U.S. Department of Defense spent $1.9 billion on developing the computer-controlled, radar-directed air defense system before halting the program.
2001 J. Humphreys Seasons of Sea iii. 64 Divers swimming past an urchin often notice that the spines swing toward them and track their movements like some sort of radar-directed defense system.
radar ranging n.
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1945 Army & Navy Jrnl. (U.S.) 18 Aug. 1534/3 Radar Nomenclature... ARO, Airborne Range Only. Radar ranging set for use with various gun computors.
1976 Sci. Amer. Feb. 51/1 The second astronomical experiment consists of precise radar-ranging measurements of the distance between the earth and the inner planets Mercury and Venus.
2003 G. B. Greer World in Confl. d i. 112 Just as the war was ending, radar ranging was developed, using a very small radar set in the nose of the fighter.
radar tracking n.
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1946 Suppl. to Jrnl. Royal Statist. Soc. 8 62 (heading) Anti-aircraft gunnery: radar tracking.
1954 K. W. Gatland Devel. Guided Missile (ed. 2) iv. 118 After a short period, radar tracking and aiming devices are ‘locked on’ to target, and from then on the whole attack is automatic.
2007 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 19 Mar. a14/5 Sadly, the only facility on Earth capable of precise radar tracking of near-Earth objects may lose its financing.
C2.
Radar Alley n. U.S. (the name of) a stretch of road having numerous radar traps. rare.
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society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > road > [noun] > specific roads
Watling Streetc885
fosseOE
Fosse Streetc1175
Fosse Way1422
Fosse Road1724
Outer Circle1829
corniche road1837
Salarian Way1866
silk route1913
North Circular1921
Radar Alley1971
1971 M. Tak Truck Talk 127 Radar Alley, Interstate 90, between Cleveland and the New York line; so named because of the numerous radar traps set on the road.
1976 R. L. Perkowski & L. P. Stral Joy of CB 174 The name of Radar Alley..aptly applies to the Ohio Turnpike..that is heavily patrolled by bears [sc. police].
radar astronomy n. a branch of astronomy in which radar is used to observe nearby astronomical objects.
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1950 Evening Capital (Annapolis, Md.) 19 Aug. 4/3 A pioneer in the new field of radar astronomy.
1987 B. Lovell in P. Moore Astron. Encycl. 344/1 Although paraboloidal or other forms of radio telescope are used, radar astronomy is distinguished from radio astronomy, which involves only the reception of radio waves having a natural origin in the universe.
2003 Science 17 Oct. 403/1 In Star Wars, a gas giant's jungle moon..drifts inexorably into the powerful beam of the Death Star. This scene closely mirrors a recent development in radar astronomy.
radar beacon n. a radio transmitter that automatically transmits a return signal when it receives a signal from a radar transmitter; esp. one whose signal is coded, enabling it to be identified; cf. racon n.
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the mind > attention and judgement > discovery > instrument for detection > [noun] > radar system > apparatus used in > transmitter
range beacon1852
radar beacon1945
1945 Electronic Engin. 17 685/2 By this means our airborne forces were enabled to direct themselves to any given point in hostile country where an advance party had already installed a ‘Radar beacon’.
1965 D. K. Barton in R. S. Berkowitz Mod. Radar ii. 12 A modern radar beacon weighing a few pounds can receive signals 100 db below 1 watt and retransmit them as 100-watt pulses, providing tremendous range extension.
1991 Motor Boat & Yachting Jan. 130/3 Radar beacon established, 3 & 10cm, azimuth coverage 110°–340°, nominal range 15 miles.
radar equation n. an equation which states the relationship between the amount of power returning to a radar receiver and various factors affecting this (as the transmitter power, and the distances from the transmitter to the target and from the target to the receiver).
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1945 D. G. Fink in Electronics Apr. 92/1 The basic factors concerned are the formation and propagation of radio beams, and the reflection of radio waves when they encounter a sudden change in the electrical properties of the transmission medium... The equation which links these factors may be termed appropriately the radar equation.
1966 McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. (rev. ed.) XI. 200/2 The strength of echo signals is related to the parameters of the radar system by the radar equation.
1999 SIAM Jrnl. Appl. Math. 59 2060 We also establish conditions that guarantee that these sequences converge to a common limit, which we define as the solution to the radar equation.
radar eye n. a radar transmitter and receiver; esp. one mounted on an aircraft or car.
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1945 Mt. Pleasant (Iowa) News 19 Sept. 6/3 Radar ‘Eyes’... A radar device installed in the rear of fighter planes protected American pilots from surprise enemy attacks from the rear.
1977 R.A.F. News 5 Jan. 9/1 The Shackleton airborne early warning aircraft of Lossiemouth's 8 Squadron..act as airborne radar eyes searching for low-flying aircraft.
2002 Birmingham Post (Nexis) 25 July 25 The Audi had a computer program managing its braking system with its radar eye tucked unobtrusively under the car.
radar fence n. a line of radar stations for giving warning of intrusions into the air space behind it.
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the mind > attention and judgement > discovery > instrument for detection > [noun] > radar system > apparatus used in > group of
radar fence1947
radar net1948
1947 Daily Courier (Connellsville, Pa.) 8 Aug. 1/6 (headline) Eaker want radar fence built at Arctic Circle.
1957 R. Watson-Watt Three Steps to Victory Pl. facing p. 320 (caption) The 350 ft. steel lattice masts on ‘T’ site. Combined with ultra-short-wave-radiation these ensured that the outer edge of the radar fence could be set far enough from the British coasts.
1987 Science 17 July 257/1 By instantaneously restructuring this capability on command, an invisible radar fence is erected around North America.
radar gun n. (a) a gun equipped with radar for locating targets; (b) a hand-held device which uses Doppler radar to measure the speed of a moving object such as a vehicle or a ball.
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1945 Waukesha (Wisconsin) Daily Freeman 24 Aug. 2/4 (headline) Radar gun found as answer to atom bomb.
1955 Independent Record (Helena, Montana) 19 Sept. 4/1 Autoists who are now under the radar gun on many highways may soon also be subject to the scrutiny of an untold number of all-seeing eyes.
1970 N.Y. Times 30 Nov. 2/2 United States electronic devices detected the enemy radar gun locking in on the F-105.
2005 P. M. MacGinnis Biomechanics of Sport & Exercise (ed. 2) xvi. 365/1 The radar gun that troopers use to catch speeders on the highways has been adapted to capture the instantaneous velocities of objects in sport.
radar man n. a man trained to operate radar equipment.
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the mind > attention and judgement > discovery > instrument for detection > [noun] > radar system > apparatus used in > operator of
radar man1942
radar plotter1944
1942 Radio-Craft Jan.–Feb. 332/1 ‘Radar’ men will operate the newly perfected radio device which locates planes in flight.
1966 M. Woodhouse Tree Frog x. 75 Pzenica, the radar man from Poland, was standing over me.
1996 Chesapeake Bay Mag. Feb. 38/1 After high school, Joe did a hitch in the Navy, working as a radarman on the Atlantic and Mediterranean.
radar map n. a map compiled from radar observations.
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1945 Record (Troy, N.Y.) 1 Sept. 11/7 By flipping a switch, the plane's radar operator can make his radar map cover a large radius.
1962 F. I. Ordway et al. Basic Astronautics iii. 65 A preliminary radar map of the Moon was made from 440 mc observations performed with the 84-ft antenna at Millstone Hill, in Massachusetts.
1990 V. Klinkenborg Last Fine Time Prologue 3 To predict the possible path of winter's first storm, weatherpersons use live radar maps and pointers.
radar-map v. transitive to compile a radar map of (an area).
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1970 New Scientist 19 Feb. 361/1 Each Victor can radar-map the entire Mediterranean in one seven-hour sortie.
1991 Intelligencer (Doylestown, Pa.) 22 Jan. A4/4 The capabilities of the aircraft to radar-map the Scud are good.
2005 M. E. Bakich Cambr. Planetary Handbk. ii. 133 This craft [sc. Magellan] entered into orbit around Venus on 10 August 1990, and within 16 months it had radar-mapped over 90% of the surface of the planet.
radar mapping n. the making of radar maps.
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1946 Geogr. Jrnl. 107 91 The aims of the expedition..were as follows:..to take photographs of Arctic topography; to test the possibilities of radar mapping of the icefields; [etc.]
1992 S. P. Maran Astron. & Astrophysics Encycl. 422/2 Radar mapping is the primary agenda of the most recent mission to Venus.
radar net n. a network of radar stations; esp. a radar fence; also figurative.
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the mind > attention and judgement > discovery > instrument for detection > [noun] > radar system > apparatus used in > group of
radar fence1947
radar net1948
1948 Sun (Baltimore) 3 June 2/3 Representative Vinson..introduced a bill to authorize construction of a radar net along the coasts of the United States and Alaska.
1964 G. Lyall Most Dangerous Game vi. 48 The border could be flown all right... The Finns didn't have a complete radar net along it, and most pilots knew just where the Finnish radar stations were.
1990 D. Ackerman Nat. Hist. Senses Introd. p. xv There is no way in which to understand the world without first detecting it through the radar-net of our senses.
radar picket n. Military a picket boat or aircraft equipped with radar for the detection of enemy vessels; frequently attributive.
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society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > war vessel > [noun] > look-out or reconnaissance vessel
spy-boat1637
guard-ship1689
station ship1693
scout-ship1694
guard-boat1696
scout1706
lookout1761
lookout ship1762
watch-boat1789
patrol boat1854
spy-ship1858
picket boat1861
picket launch1864
scout vessel1869
vedette boat1884
picket ship1898
coastal1912
P boat1917
spotter1931
radar picket1945
1945 Times Herald (Middletown, N.Y.) 24 Aug. 1/4 The Ward..was serving as a radar picket ship off the outskirts of the fleet formation area.
1973 C. Mason Hostage x. 136 Radar picket aircraft..with grotesque radomes projecting above and below the fuselages.
2004 N. Polmar & K. J. Moore Cold War Submarines iv. 69/1 The Soviet radar pickets were intended to provide warning of air attacks on Soviet coastal territory.
radar plotter n. now historical a person who plots the direction and course of objects from radar observations.
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the mind > attention and judgement > discovery > instrument for detection > [noun] > radar system > apparatus used in > operator of
radar man1942
radar plotter1944
1944 Vidette-Messenger (Valparaiso, Indiana) 12 May 4/2 If I were Governor Dewey I'd not have the nomination on a radar plotter.
1978 R. V. Jones Most Secret War xxiii. 196 She..had been taken on with two other girls at Bawdsey by Watson-Watt to see whether girls would make good radar-plotters.
1997 Shetland Times 21 Nov. 2/4 Billy was a radar plotter and I was an officer steward.
radar scanner n. a rotatable aerial for transmitting and receiving radar signals.
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the mind > attention and judgement > discovery > instrument for detection > [noun] > radar system > apparatus used in > rotatable aerial
radar scanner1945
1945 Amer. Speech 20 310/2 Radome, housing enclosing a radar scanner.
1976 ‘A. York’ Dark Passage xiii. 164 Her radio aerial and the radar scanner on her wheelhouse roof remained visible.
2006 Analog June 97/2 Actium had excellent long-range optical and radar scanners, none of them suited to the remote detection of matter/antimatter annihilation events.
radar screen n. a screen on which received radar signals are represented for observation; also figurative (cf. sense Phrases); cf. radarscope n.
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the mind > attention and judgement > discovery > instrument for detection > [noun] > radar system > apparatus used in > cathode-ray oscilloscope > screen of
radar screen1945
1945 Ogden (Utah) Standard-Examiner 18 July 2/3 A few enemy aircraft which cluttered our radar screen vanished without ever closing in.
1960 ‘N. Shute’ Trustee from Toolroom 97 They get us on the radar screen and talk us down on to the runway.
1997 A. Barnett This Time vi. 178 It is well off the radar screen of current British politics.
radar sonde n. a sonde which can be tracked by radar to obtain information on wind speed, wind direction, etc., in addition to the usual meteorological information; also in extended use.
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the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > study or science of weather > meteorological instruments > [noun] > using radar or sonar
weather radar1946
radar sonde1949
sodar1955
1949 Jrnl. Royal Aeronaut. Soc. 53 441/1 At T.R.E. the wind-finding responder is being adapted for use as a ‘radarsonde’, meteorological instruments to measure pressure, temperature and humidity being mounted towards the top of the responder.
1956 Nature 17 Mar. 520/1 Progress was made in the measurement of solar radiation and in the development of the new radar-sonde.
2005 IGARSS 2005 (IEEE) 360/1 By means of borehole access to deep regions below the surface, the radar sonde can be located relatively close to the anomalies or targets to be measured.
radar speed check n. originally U.S. a check on the speed of motor vehicles that employs radar; a radar trap.
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1950 Progress (Clearfield, Pa.) 10 Sept. 3/1 Radar speed checks..showed 82 per cent of the passenger cars traveling at less than 63 miles an hour.
1962 Daily Tel. 22 May 24/6 Police said Cadbury went through a radar speed check at 58 mph.
2006 Times-Picayune (New Orleans) (Nexis) 1 Feb. 1 (Metro section) The chase began..at a State Police radar speed check on Airline Highway.
radar speed trap n. originally U.S. = radar trap n.
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society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > vehicular traffic > [noun] > traffic control > maximum legal speed > detection of infringements
trap1906
speed trap1927
radar speed trap1947
radar trap1962
amphometer1964
VASCAR1966
speed gun1972
1947 Lowell (Mass.) Sun 1 Feb. 3/3 (heading) Radar Speed Trap.
1971 Observer 26 Sept. 9/5 Radar speed traps are being planned for a 60-mile stretch of the River Nene..to stop boats from exceeding the seven m.p.h. limit.
2006 Independent (Nexis) 18 Sept. 19 M. Chirac ordered his government to order the police out on to the roads. He authorised the widespread use of radar speed traps.
radar-track v. transitive to track by radar; also occasionally figurative.
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the mind > attention and judgement > discovery > instrument for detection > of instrument, etc.: detect [verb (transitive)] > locate or track
radiolocate1941
echolocate1944
to lock on to ——1945
radar-track1948
acquire1953
echo-sound1953
1948 Post–Standard (N.Y.) 26 Dec. Much can be learned about conditions high above our heads by radar-tracking these speedy and tiny visitors from outer space.
1973 M. Amis Rachel Papers 24 I felt a hand traverse the lower areas of my back. In seconds—radar-tracked by my whisker-sensitive pubic hairs—it was treading air above my groin.
2003 Gloucestershire Echo (Nexis) 20 Mar. 9 Tomahawks cruise at low altitude and follow a complicated route to avoid being radar-tracked.
radar trap n. a speed trap in which the speed of vehicles is measured using radar and the Doppler effect.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > vehicular traffic > [noun] > traffic control > maximum legal speed > detection of infringements
trap1906
speed trap1927
radar speed trap1947
radar trap1962
amphometer1964
VASCAR1966
speed gun1972
1962 Punch 18 July 74/3 A motorist has been acquitted of a speeding charge because the radar trap that provided the evidence against him could not be put on oath.
1975 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 4 June 1/6 A check with the radar trap involved showed the limousine was doing a mere 71 miles an hour in a 70-mile-an-hour zone.
2003 R. Standring Dangerous Encounters xxi. 290 Make sure you don't speed because they've got radar traps everywhere.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1941