English

Television picture tube.

Noun

picture tube ‎(plural picture tubes)

1. (electronics, becoming dated) In a television set, before the development of LED screens, the cathode ray tube which produced moving images on its surface.
   • 1955 May 7, "Science: Slimmer TV," Time (retrieved 12 Nov 2015):

     The conventional TV picture tube, whose monstrous bubble of vacuum is responsible for most of the bulk of the TV cabinet, may be on its way out. Electronics men have long dreamed of shrinking the tube to a flat plate not much bigger than the picture.

   • 2006 May 7, Eric A. Taub, "Picture Tubes Are Fading Into the Past," New York Times (retrieved 12 Nov 2015):

     The bulky, squarish, heavy picture tube, the standard television technology for more than 60 years, is heading for the dustbin of history much faster than anyone expected.