Spectacles

[Ember]

My husband used to refer to his specs as gig lamps, I always thought it was his own expression but came across it recently in a story. What exactly are gig lamps?

[sft42]

Gig Lamps is a term made up by the author Cuthbert Bede (the pen name of Edward Bradley) who wrote Verdant Green amongst others in which this pharse is spoken by one of the characters refering to his specs.

[Quizmonster]

Sft is, of course, absolutely right as to the origin of 'gig-lamps' as spectacles. However, in earlier days, a gig was either a small two-wheeled carriage or a ship's boat, each of which might have displayed lamps - encased in glass - on either side to make themselves visible to other 'traffic'. No doubt that's where the author of 'Verdant Green' got the idea of combining 'gig' and 'lamps' to mean specs.

[Ember]

Thank you folks, very interesting, though I confess I did think they were something to do with a carriage. How my husband heard the expression is a mystery, he NEVER reads books. The book I saw the expression in was written by Kyril Bonfiglioli an absolutely scream of an author who is sadly deceased, the book was completed by Craig Brown so not sure exactly who used the phrase. .

[FredPuli]

And, of course, the lamps fitted to boats and carriages ( including horseless carriages) had large, conspicuous front lenses, resembling the thickest of spectacle lenses, to make a usable beam from the low power of the lamp behind. We may guess that the character's spectacle lenses were similarly strong.