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lens
9 dictionary results for: lens
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
lens 
[lenz] Pronunciation Key noun, plural lens·es, verb
—Related forms
[lenz] Pronunciation Key noun, plural lens·es, verb –noun
–verb (used with object)
| 1. | a piece of transparent substance, usually glass, having two opposite surfaces either both curved or one curved and one plane, used in an optical device in changing the convergence of light rays, as for magnification, or in correcting defects of vision. |
| 2. | a combination of such pieces. |
| 3. | some analogous device, as for affecting sound waves, electromagnetic radiation, or streams of electrons. |
| 4. | Anatomy. crystalline lens. |
| 5. | Geology. a body of rock or ore that is thick in the middle and thinner toward the edges, similar in shape to a biconvex lens. |
| 6. | Movies. to film (a motion picture). |
—Related forms
lensless, adjective
lenslike, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
lens
(lěnz) Pronunciation Key
(click for larger image in new window) n. pl. lens·es
tr.v. lensed, lens·ing, lens·es Informal To make a photograph or movie of. [New Latin lēns, from Latin, lentil (from the shape of a double convex lens).] lensed adj. |
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
lens
lens
1693, from L. lens (gen. lentis) "lentil," on analogy of the double-convex shape. See lentil.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
| lens | |
noun | |
| 1. | a transparent optical device used to converge or diverge transmitted light and to form images |
| 2. | genus of small erect or climbing herbs with pinnate leaves and small inconspicuous white flowers and small flattened pods: lentils |
| 3. | (metaphor) a channel through which something can be seen or understood; "the writer is the lens through which history can be seen" |
| 4. | biconvex transparent body situated behind the iris in the eye; its role (along with the cornea) is to focuses light on the retina |
| 5. | electronic equipment that uses a magnetic or electric field in order to focus a beam of electrons |
WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
lens
(lěnz) Pronunciation Key
(click for larger image in new window)
|
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
lens
lens
A piece of transparent material, such as glass, that forms an image from the rays of light passing through it. (See focal length, refraction, and telescope.)
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
lens
lens
A clear, almost spherical structure located just behind the pupil of the eye. The lens focuses waves of light on the retina.
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
lensed adj.
lens (lěnz)
n. pl. lens·es
- A ground or molded piece of glass, plastic, or other transparent material with opposite surfaces either or both of which are curved, by means of which light rays are refracted so that they converge or diverge to form an image.
- A transparent, biconvex body of the eye between the iris and the vitreous humor that focuses light rays entering through the pupil to form an image on the retina.
lensed adj.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Lens
Lens\ (l[e^]nz), n.; pl. Lenses (-[e^]z). [L. lens a lentil. So named from the resemblance in shape of a double convex lens to the seed of a lentil. Cf. Lentil.] (Opt.) A piece of glass, or other transparent substance, ground with two opposite regular surfaces, either both curved, or one curved and the other plane, and commonly used, either singly or combined, in optical instruments, for changing the direction of rays of light, and thus magnifying objects, or otherwise modifying vision. In practice, the curved surfaces are usually spherical, though rarely cylindrical, or of some other figure. Lenses Note: Of spherical lenses, there are six varieties, as shown in section in the figures herewith given: viz., a plano-concave; b double-concave; c plano-convex; d double-convex; e converging concavo-convex, or converging meniscus; f diverging concavo-convex, or diverging meniscus. Crossed lens (Opt.), a double-convex lens with one radius equal to six times the other. Crystalline lens. (Anat.) See Eye. Fresnel lens (Opt.), a compound lens formed by placing around a central convex lens rings of glass so curved as to have the same focus; used, especially in lighthouses, for concentrating light in a particular direction; -- so called from the inventor. Multiplying lens or glass (Opt.), a lens one side of which is plane and the other convex, but made up of a number of plane faces inclined to one another, each of which presents a separate image of the object viewed through it, so that the object is, as it were, multiplied. Polyzonal lens. See Polyzonal.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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