High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! A lantern is a portable lighting device or mounted light fixture used to illuminate broad areas. Lanterns may also be used for signaling, as `torches`, or as general light sources outdoors (such as camping). Low light level varieties are used for decoration. The term "lantern" is also used more generically to mean a `light source` or the enclosure for a light source. Examples are glass pane enclosed street lights, or the housing for the top lamp and lens section of a lighthouse.