Search

a conductor by which electromagnetic waves are sent out or received, consisting commonly of a wire or set of wires; aerial.
Zoology. one of the jointed, movable, sensory appendages occurring in pairs on the heads of insects and most other arthropods.
Contemporary Examples

His cellphone, he says proudly, is the kind that still has an antenna, and he uses it, naturally, only to make phone calls.
Is Alex Trebek in Jeopardy? Daniel Stone February 12, 2011

Her work has also appeared in the Los Angeles Times and antenna magazine.
When Entourage Got Serious Enid Portuguez September 16, 2009

The mission itself is simply a small computer powered by solar cells, with an antenna transmitting at 145.980 MHz.
Luxembourg and China Team Up on Private Mission to the Moon Matthew R. Francis October 25, 2014

Her work has also appeared on InStyle.com, the Los Angeles Times, antenna and Flaunt magazines.
MTV’s Mr. Nice Guy Enid Portuguez April 25, 2010

Yet with the phone simply “on,” the scientists found a significant change in brain activity in the areas closest to its antenna.
Study Finds Cellphone Radiation Changes Brain Activity Claudia Kalb February 21, 2011

Historical Examples

You will have to keep changing the tuning of your detector circuit and of the antenna.
Letters of a Radio-Engineer to His Son John Mills

Help me with this box, and then get the girl to put on the antenna you’ll find there.
Astounding Stories of Super-Science, May, 1930 Various

Tripectinate: when an antenna has three branches or processes to each joint.
Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology John. B. Smith

“She’s still wearing her antenna,” he said swiftly over his shoulder.
Astounding Stories of Super-Science, May, 1930 Various

The transmitter, batteries, and antenna were molded into a collar of acrylic weighing 11 ounces (Mech et al. 1965).
Ecological Studies of the Timber Wolf in Northeastern Minnesota L. David Mech

noun
(pl) -nae (-naɪ). one of a pair of mobile appendages on the heads of insects, crustaceans, etc, that are often whiplike and respond to touch and taste but may be specialized for swimming or attachment
(pl) -nas another name for aerial (sense 7)
n.

1640s, “feeler or horn of an insect,” from Latin antenna “sail yard,” the long yard that sticks up on some sails, of unknown origin, perhaps from PIE root *temp- “to stretch, extend.” In the etymological sense, it is a loan-translation of Aristotle’s Greek keraiai “horns” (of insects). Modern use in radio, etc., for “aerial wire” is from 1902. Adjectival forms are antennal (1834), antennary (1836), antennular (1858).
antenna
(ān-těn’ə)

One of a pair of long, slender, segmented appendages on the heads of insects, centipedes, millipedes, and crustaceans. Most antennae are organs of touch, but some are sensitive to odors and other stimuli.

A metallic device for sending or receiving electromagnetic waves, such as radio waves. Some antennas can send waves in or receive waves from all directions; others are designed to work only in a range of directions.