telescope

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle)
• HYPHEN: tel=e=scope

CIDE DICTIONARY

telescope, n. [Gr. viewing afar, farseeing; far, far off + a watcher, akin to to view: cf. F. télescope. See Telegraph, and -scope.].

 An optical instrument used in viewing distant objects, as the heavenly bodies.  [1913 Webster]
" A telescope assists the eye chiefly in two ways; first, by enlarging the visual angle under which a distant object is seen, and thus magnifying that object; and, secondly, by collecting, and conveying to the eye, a larger beam of light than would enter the naked organ, thus rendering objects distinct and visible which would otherwise be indistinct and or invisible. Its essential parts are the object glass, or concave mirror, which collects the beam of light, and forms an image of the object, and the eyeglass, which is a microscope, by which the image is magnified."  [1913 Webster]

Achromatic telescope. See under Achromatic. -- Aplanatic telescope, a telescope having an aplanatic eyepiece. -- Astronomical telescope, a telescope which has a simple eyepiece so constructed or used as not to reverse the image formed by the object glass, and consequently exhibits objects inverted, which is not a hindrance in astronomical observations. -- Cassegrainian telescope, a reflecting telescope invented by Cassegrain, which differs from the Gregorian only in having the secondary speculum convex instead of concave, and placed nearer the large speculum. The Cassegrainian represents objects inverted; the Gregorian, in their natural position. The Melbourne telescope (see Illust. under Reflecting telescope, below) is a Cassegrainian telescope. -- Dialytic telescope. See under Dialytic. -- Equatorial telescope. See the Note under Equatorial. -- Galilean telescope, a refracting telescope in which the eyeglass is a concave instead of a convex lens, as in the common opera glass. This was the construction originally adopted by Galileo, the inventor of the instrument. It exhibits the objects erect, that is, in their natural positions. -- Gregorian telescope, a form of reflecting telescope. See under Gregorian. -- Herschelian telescope, a reflecting telescope of the form invented by Sir William Herschel, in which only one speculum is employed, by means of which an image of the object is formed near one side of the open end of the tube, and to this the eyeglass is applied directly. -- Newtonian telescope, a form of reflecting telescope. See under Newtonian. -- Photographic telescope, a telescope specially constructed to make photographs of the heavenly bodies. -- Prism telescope. See Teinoscope. -- Reflecting telescope, a telescope in which the image is formed by a speculum or mirror (or usually by two speculums, a large one at the lower end of the telescope, and the smaller one near the open end) instead of an object glass. See Gregorian, Cassegrainian, Herschelian, , above. -- Refracting telescope, a telescope in which the image is formed by refraction through an object glass. -- Telescope carp (Zoöl.), the telescope fish. -- Telescope fish (Zoöl.), a monstrous variety of the goldfish having very protuberant eyes. -- Telescope fly (Zoöl.), any two-winged fly of the genus Diopsis, native of Africa and Asia. The telescope flies are remarkable for having the eyes raised on very long stalks. -- Telescope shell (Zoöl.), an elongated gastropod (Cerithium telescopium) having numerous flattened whorls. -- Telescope sight (Firearms), a slender telescope attached to the barrel, having cross wires in the eyepiece and used as a sight. -- Terrestrial telescope, a telescope whose eyepiece has one or two lenses more than the astronomical, for the purpose of inverting the image, and exhibiting objects erect.

telescope, v. i. 

 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; to become compressed in the manner of a telescope, due to a collision or other force.  [1913 Webster]

telescope, v. t. 

•  To cause to come into collision, so as to telescope.  [1913 Webster]
•  to shorten or abridge significantly; as, to telescope a whole semester's lectures into one week.  [PJC]

telescope, a. 

 Capable of being extended or compacted, like a telescope, by the sliding of joints or parts one within the other; telescopic; as, a telescope bag; telescope table, etc.; -- now more commonly replaced by the term telescoping.  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

telescope, n. & v.
--n.
1 an optical instrument using lenses or mirrors or both to make distant objects appear nearer and larger.
2 = radio telescope.
--v.
1 tr. press or drive (sections of a tube, colliding vehicles, etc.) together so that one slides into another like the sections of a folding telescope.
2 intr. close or be driven or be capable of closing in this way.
3 tr. compress so as to occupy less space or time.

Etymology

It. telescopio or mod.L telescopium (as TELE-, -SCOPE)

DEVIL DICTIONARY

telescope

n. A device having a relation to the eye similar to that of the telephone to the ear, enabling distant objects to plague us with a multitude of needless details. Luckily it is unprovided with a bell summoning us to the sacrifice.

THESAURUS

telescope

Cassegrainian telescope, Newtonian telescope, OAO, OSO, abbreviate, abridge, abstract, astronomical observatory, astronomical telescope, binoculars, bob, boil down, capsulize, clip, coelostat, compress, concertina, condense, contract, coronagraph, coronograph, crop, crush, curtail, cut, cut back, cut down, cut off short, cut short, digest, dock, elide, epitomize, field glass, foreshorten, glass, heliostat, mow, nip, observatory, opera glasses, orrery, planetarium, poll, pollard, precis, prune, radar telescope, radio observatory, radio telescope, reap, recap, recapitulate, reduce, reflector, refractor, retrench, scope, shave, shear, shorten, snub, spectrograph, spectroheliograph, spectrohelioscope, spectroscope, spy glass, spyglass, squash, stunt, sum up, summarize, synopsize, take in, terrestrial telescope, trim, truncate, zenith tube, zoom binoculars

ROGET THESAURUS

telescope

Impulse

VB flash on the mind, say what comes uppermost, improvise, extemporize, give an impetus, impel, push, start, give a start to, set going, drive, urge, boom, thrust, prod, foin, cant, elbow, shoulder, jostle, justle, hustle, hurtle, shove, jog, jolt, encounter, run against, bump against, butt against, knock one's head against, run one's head against, impinge, boost, bunt, carom, clip y, fan, fan out, jab, plug, strike, knock, hit, tap, rap, slap, flap, dab, pat, thump, beat, blow, bang, slam, dash, punch, thwack, whack, hit hard, strike hard, swap, batter, dowse, baste, pelt, patter, buffet, belabor, fetch one a blow, poke at, pink, lunge, yerk, kick, calcitrate, butt, strike at, whip, come into a collision, enter into collision, collide, sideswipe, foul, fall foul of, run foul of, telescope, throw.

Optical Instruments

N optical instruments, lens, meniscus, magnifier, sunglass, magnifying glass, hand lens, microscope, megascope, tienoscope, spectacles, specs, glasses, barnacles, goggles, eyeglass, pince-nez, monocle, reading glasses, bifocals, contact lenses, soft lenses, hard lenses, sunglasses, shades, periscopic lens, telescope, glass, lorgnette, spyglass, opera glass, binocular, binoculars, field glass, burning glass, convex lens, concave lens, convexo-concave lens, coated lens, multiple lens, compound lens, lens system, telephoto lens, wide-angle lens, fish-eye lens, zoom lens, optical bench, astronomical telescope, reflecting telescope, reflector, refracting telescope, refractor, Newtonian telescope, folded-path telescope, finder telescope, chromatoscope, X-ray telescope, radiotelescope, phased-array telescope, Very Large Array radiotelescope, ultraviolet telescope, infrared telescope, star spectroscope, space telescope, altazimuth mount, equatorial mount, refractometer, circular dichroism spectrometer, interferometer, phase-contrast microscope, fluorescence microscope, dissecting microscope, electron microscope, transmission electron microscope, scanning electron microscope, SEM, scanning tunneling electron microscope, objective lens, eyepiece, barrel, platform, focusing knob, slide, slide glass, cover glass, counting chamber, illuminator, light source, polarizer, reticle, cross-hairs, light pipe, fiber optics mirror, reflector, speculum, looking- glass, pier-glass, cheval-glass, rear-view mirror, hand mirror, one-way mirror, magnifying mirror, fun house, prism, diffraction grating, beam splitter, half-wave plate, quarter-wave plate, camera lucida, camera obscura, magic lantern, stereopticon, chromatrope, thaumatrope, stereoscope, pseudoscope, polyscope, kaleidoscope, photometer, eriometer, actinometer, lucimeter, radiometer, ligth detector, photodiode, photomultiplier, photodiode array, photocell, X-ray diffractometer, goniometer, spectrometer, monochrometer, UV spectrometer, visible spectrometer, Infrared spectrometer, Fourier transform infrared spectrometer, recording spectrometer, densitometer, scanning densitometer, two-dimensional densitometer, abdominoscope, gastroscope, helioscope, polariscope, polemoscope, spectroscope, abdominoscopy, gastroscopy, microscopy, microscopist.