Audio Help [tel-uh-skohp] Pronunciation Key noun, adjective, verb, -scoped, -scop·ing. | 1. | an optical instrument for making distant objects appear larger and therefore nearer. One of the two principal forms (refracting telescope) consists essentially of an objective lens set into one end of a tube and an adjustable eyepiece or combination of lenses set into the other end of a tube that slides into the first and through which the enlarged object is viewed directly; the other form (reflecting telescope) has a concave mirror that gathers light from the object and focuses it into an adjustable eyepiece or combination of lenses through which the reflection of the object is enlarged and viewed. Compare radio telescope. |
| 2. | (initial capital letter ) Astronomy. the constellation Telescopium. |
| 3. | consisting of parts that fit and slide one within another. |
| 4. | to force together, one into another, or force into something else, in the manner of the sliding tubes of a jointed telescope. |
| 5. | to shorten or condense; compress: to telescope the events of five hundred years into one history lecture. |
| 6. | to slide together, or into something else, in the manner of the tubes of a jointed telescope. |
| 7. | to be driven one into another, as railroad cars in a collision. |
| 8. | to be or become shortened or condensed. |
| Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006. |
telescope
To learn more about telescope visit Britannica.com
| © 2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. |
| tel·e·scope
Audio Help (těl'ĭ-skōp') Pronunciation Key
n.
v. tel·e·scoped, tel·e·scop·ing, tel·e·scopes v. tr.
v. intr. To slide inward or outward in or as if in overlapping cylindrical sections: a camp bucket that telescopes into a disk. [New Latin telescopium or Italian telescopio, both from Greek tēleskopos, far-seeing : tēle-, tele- + skopos, watcher; see spek- in Indo-European roots.] |
| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
telescope
| Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper |
| telescope | |
noun | |
| 1. | a magnifier of images of distant objects |
verb | |
| 1. | crush together or collapse; "In the accident, the cars telescoped"; "my hiking sticks telescope and can be put into the backpack" |
| 2. | make smaller or shorter; "the novel was telescoped into a short play" |
| WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University. |
telescope [ˈteliskəup] noun
Example: He looked at the ship through his telescope.
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Example: The crash telescoped the railway coaches.
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| Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary, © 2000-2006 K Dictionaries Ltd. |
telescope
Audio Help (těl'ĭ-skōp') Pronunciation Key
(click for larger image in new window)
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| The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
telescope
A device used by astronomers to magnify images or collect more light from distant objects by gathering and concentrating radiation. The most familiar kind of telescope is the optical telescope, which collects radiation in the form of visible light. It may work by reflection, with a bowl-shaped mirror at its base, or by refraction, with a system of lenses. Other kinds of telescopes collect other kinds of radiation; there are radio telescopes (which collect radio waves), x-ray telescopes, and infrared telescopes. Radio and optical telescopes may be situated on the Earth, since the Earth's atmosphere allows light and radio waves through but absorbs radiation from several other regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. X-ray telescopes are placed in space.
[Chapter:] Physical Sciences and Mathematics
| The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
Telescope
Gal`i*le"an\, a. Of or pertaining to Galileo; as, the Galilean telescope. See Telescope.| Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc. |
Telescope
Gold"fish`\, n. (Zo["o]l.) (a) A small domesticated cyprinoid fish (Carassius auratus); -- so named from its color. It is native of China, and is said to have been introduced into Europe in 1691. It is often kept as an ornament, in small ponds or glass globes. Many varieties are known. Called also golden fish, and golden carp. See Telescope fish, under Telescope. (b) A California marine fish of an orange or red color; the garibaldi.| Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc. |
Telescope
Tel"e*scope\ (t[e^]l"[-e]*sk[=o]p), 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.| Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc. |
Telescope
Re*flect"ing\, a. 1. Throwing back light, heat, etc., as a mirror or other surface. 2. Given to reflection or serious consideration; reflective; contemplative; as, a reflecting mind. Reflecting circle, an astronomical instrument for measuring angless, like the sextant or Hadley's quadrant, by the reflection of light from two plane mirrors which it carries, and differing from the sextant chiefly in having an entire circle. Reflecting galvanometer, a galvanometer in which the deflections of the needle are read by means of a mirror attached to it, which reflects a ray of light or the image of a scale; -- called also mirror galvanometer. Reflecting goniometer. See under Goniometer. Reflecting telescope. See under Telescope.| Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc. |
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