noun
- An apparatus that uses a mirror or mirrors to reflect sunlight and transmit messages in Morse code over long distances.
- A photograph made by the action of sunlight on a chemically treated surface.
Usage: historical military communication device; also called sun telegraph
Usage: archaic; early photography term
verb
- To send a message using a heliograph; to communicate by heliograph.
Usage: historical
Examples
- The military unit used a heliograph to send urgent messages across the desert.
- Before radio communication, soldiers relied on heliographs to transmit orders over vast distances.
- The heliograph operator positioned the mirror to catch the sun's rays at the correct angle.
- Early photographers experimented with heliographs to create images without a camera lens.
- They heliographed the coordinates to the distant battalion using Morse code.