Polaroid

UK: /ˈpəʊlərɔɪd/ US: /ˈpoʊləˌrɔɪd/ ,(pō′lə roid′)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

Po•lar•oid /ˈpoʊləˌrɔɪd/   [Trademark.]

1. Optics, Trademarks [uncountable] a brand of glare-reducing material, used on sunglasses, etc.
2. Photography, Trademarks [countable] the first brand of instant camera, developed by Edwin H. Land and marketed since 1948.
3. Photography, Trademarks [countable] a print made by such a camera.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

Po•lar•oid  (pō′lə roid′), [Trademark.]

1. Optics, Trademarks a brand of material for producing polarized light from unpolarized light by dichroism, consisting typically of a stretched sheet of colorless plastic treated with an iodine solution so as to have long, thin, parallel chains of polymeric molecules containing conductive iodine atoms. It is used widely in optical and lighting devices to reduce glare.
2. Photography, Trademarks Also called Po′laroid Cam′era, Po′laroid Land′ Cam′era. the first brand of instant camera, developed by Edwin H. Land and marketed since 1948.
3. Photography, Trademarks Also called Po′laroid print′. a print made by such a camera.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

Polaroid / ˈpəʊləˌrɔɪd/ noun

1. a type of plastic sheet that can polarize a transmitted beam of normal light because it is composed of long parallel molecules. It only transmits plane-polarized light if these molecules are parallel to the plane of polarization and, since reflected light is partly polarized, it is often used in sunglasses to eliminate glare
2. Polaroid Land Camera ⇒ any of several types of camera yielding a finished print by means of a special developing and processing technique that occurs inside the camera and takes only a few seconds to complete
3. (plural) sunglasses with lenses made from Polaroid plastic