Telescope Definition
tĕlĭ-skōp
telescoped, telescopes, telescoping
noun
telescopes
An optical instrument for making distant objects, as the stars, appear nearer and consequently larger: it consists of two or more lenses or mirrors.
Webster's New World
Any of various devices, such as a radio telescope, used to detect and observe distant objects by their emission, absorption, or reflection of electromagnetic radiation.
American Heritage
Synonyms:
- scope
- polemoscope
- teinoscope
- telestereoscope
- telespectroscope
- telelectroscope
- equatorial telescope
- mercurial telescope
- Gregorian telescope
- galilean-telescope
- optical-instrument
- glass
- refracting-telescope
- reflecting-telescope
- binoculars
verb
telescoped, telescopes, telescoping
To cause to telescope.
Webster's New World
To have one part slide into another part like the concentric tubes of a small, collapsible telescope.
Webster's New World
To condense; shorten, as by combining parts, compressing, etc.
Webster's New World
To make more compact or concise; condense.
American Heritage
To come into contact with such force that the colliding parts become compressed.
Webster's New World
adjective
Having parts that slide one inside another.
Webster's New World
Other Word Forms of Telescope
Noun
Singular:
telescope
Plural:
telescopesOrigin of Telescope
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New Latin telescopium or Italian telescopio both from Greek tēleskopos far-seeing tēle- tele- skopos watcher spek- in Indo-European roots
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
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tele- +"Ž -scope. From Latin telescopium, from Ancient Greek τηλεσκόπος (tÄ“leskopos, “far-seeing"), from τῆλε (tÄ“le, “afar") + σκοπέω (skopeō, “I look at").
From Wiktionary
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.
From Wiktionary
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