opera glasses

[ op-er-uh-glas-iz, glah-siz, op-ruh ]
See synonyms for opera glasses on Thesaurus.com
plural noun
  1. a small, low-power pair of binoculars for use at plays, concerts, and the like.

Origin of opera glasses

1
First recorded in 1730–40
  • Often opera glass .

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use opera glasses in a sentence

  • A débutante destined to a higher kind of success, Ada Cavendish, regaled the opera-glasses with the sight of her beauty as Venus.

    The English Stage | Augustin Filon
  • He could see opera-glasses levelled on her from the boxes overhead, and over the edge of the dress circle.

    Flaming June | Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey
  • Then she took up an object which looked like (and indeed was) the half of a pair of opera-glasses with the glass taken out.

    Quicksilver Sue | Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards
  • Reasoning thus, Richard raised his opera glasses and swept those many superimposed ranges of waxen cells.

  • The colored images that are sometimes seen in cheap opera glasses show the result of not using achromatic lenses.

    Physics | Willis Eugene Tower

British Dictionary definitions for opera glasses

opera glasses

pl n
  1. small low-powered binoculars used by audiences in theatres and opera houses

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012