Lens Definition

lĕnz
lenses
noun
lenses
A piece of glass, or other transparent substance, with two curved surfaces, or one plane and one curved, regularly bringing together or spreading rays of light passing through it: a lens or combination of lenses is used in optical instruments, eyeglasses, etc. to form an image.
Webster's New World
A combination of two or more such pieces.
Webster's New World
A thin piece of glass or plastic, as on a pair of sunglasses, that transmits light without refraction.
American Heritage Medicine
Any of various devices used to focus microwaves, electrons, or sound waves.
Webster's New World
A transparent, biconvex body situated between the iris and the vitreous humor of the eye: it focuses upon the retina light rays entering the pupil.
Webster's New World
verb
To photograph.
Webster's New World
To make a film of.
Webster's New World
To bend or distort (light, for example) by means of a lens, especially a gravitational field.
American Heritage
pronoun

A taxonomic genus within the family Fabaceae — the lentils.

Wiktionary

Other Word Forms of Lens

Noun

Singular:
lens
Plural:
lenses

Origin of Lens

  • New Latin lēns from Latin lentil (from the shape of a double convex lens)

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • Latin lens (“a lentil bean”)

    From Wiktionary

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