The idiot's lantern is a wonderfully snarky old British nickname for the television — the glowing box in the corner that keeps millions staring slack-jawed for hours. It captured the mid-20th century suspicion that TV was rotting people's brains long before smartphones took the blame. Still gets dusted off sarcastically when someone wants to take a swipe at binge culture.
My granddad called it the idiot's lantern and refused to have one in the house until 1987.
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(UK) A television set.
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Regional slang from around the English-speaking world — British, Australian, Irish, Caribbean, Nigerian, Filipino, AAVE, and the hyphenated-English dialects that make the internet sound local.
See all Regional & Other slang on Slangora.