telescope
UK /ˈtɛl.ɪ.skəʊp/ · US /ˈtɛl.əˌskoʊp/ noun, verb
Forms telescopes telescoping telescoped
- noun A monocular optical instrument that magnifies distant objects, especially in astronomy.
- noun Any instrument used in astronomy for observing distant objects (such as a radio telescope).
- noun (television) A retractable tubular support for lights.
- noun A kind of goldfish with protruding eyes, first bred in China.
- verb (ambitransitive) To extend or contract in the manner of a telescope.
- verb (ambitransitive) To slide or pass one within another, after the manner of the sections of a small telescope or spyglass.
- verb (intransitive) To come into collision, as railway cars, in such a manner that one runs into another.
- verb (ambitransitive, mathematics, of a series) To collapse, via cancellation.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Latin tēlescopium, from Ancient Greek τηλεσκόπος (tēleskópos, “far-seeing”), from τῆλε (têle, “afar”) + σκοπέω (skopéō, “to look at”).
Coined in 1611 by the Greek mathematician Giovanni Demisiani for one of Galileo Galilei's instruments presented at a banquet at the Accademia dei Lincei. Doublet of Telescopium.
Webster’s 1913
- noun An optical instrument used in viewing distant objects, as the heavenly bodies.
- adjective To slide or pass one within another, after the manner of the sections of a small telescope or spyglass; to come into collision, as railway cars, in such a manner that one runs into another. [Recent]
- verb To cause to come into collision, so as to telescope. [Recent]
- verb An adjustable traveling bag consisting of two cases, the larger slipping over the other.
Etymology [Gr. télescope. See Telegraph, and -scope.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “telescope”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details