From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishsearchlightsearch‧light /ˈsɜːtʃlaɪt $ ˈsɜːrtʃ-/ noun [countable] TDa very bright electric light that turns in any direction, used for finding people, guarding places etc
Examples from the Corpus
searchlight• Suddenly a searchlight was blazing in their eyes.• Behind the huge mirrors and searchlights were buildings full of food and supplies.• Siegfried waited for the searchlight to wash over him one last time, then crawled back to the West.• Then the searchlight dazzled her again.• It was the searchlight beam from the Coast Guard cutter fifty yards off.• At the perimeter of the base they were testing their searchlights for the oncoming night.• Two searchlights came on, brilliant sticks of light, prodding the sky. 