binocular
[buh-nok-yuh-ler, bahy-]
- Usually binoculars. Also called pair of binoculars, prism binoculars. an optical device, providing good depth effect, for use with both eyes, consisting of two small telescopes fitted together side by side, each telescope having two prisms between the eyepiece and objective for erecting the image.
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- involving both eyes: binocular vision.
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Origin of binocular
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for binoculars
Contemporary Examples
They were found camped in the woods, armed with binoculars, flying a small helicopter.
The search for the remains of Flight 370 is not simply a case of binoculars out of the window, although they play a part.
Without a bribed official, a halcyon, or eagle, will watch the entry point with binoculars for patterns and opportunities.
Detective Brian Sallee lifted a pair of binoculars and scanned a parking lot a quarter mile down the road.
The film opens with her bratty brother spying on her with binoculars as she suntans on a beach.
‘Jeune et Jolie’ (‘Young and Beautiful’) Opens at Cannes With Model Marine VacthRichard Porton
May 16, 2013
Historical Examples
The American turned his binoculars obediently and scanned the west and north.
The Cruise of the Dry DockT. S. Stribling
As it was too small for his naked eyes, he resorted to the binoculars once more.
The Cruise of the Dry DockT. S. Stribling
Next he showed them a pair of binoculars, teaching them how to look through them.
The Hohokam DigTheodore Pratt
In their places, suddenly, there were the thermos and the binoculars.
The Hohokam DigTheodore Pratt
Then he took up the binoculars from the roof of the deckhouse.
The RescueJoseph Conrad
binoculars
- an optical instrument for use with both eyes, consisting of two small telescopes joined togetherAlso called: field glasses
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binocular
- involving, relating to, seeing with or intended for both eyesbinocular vision
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Word Origin
C18: from bi- 1 + Latin oculus eye
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
Word Origin and History for binoculars
n.
1866; see binocular. Earlier binocle (1690s).
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binocular
adj.
1738, "involving both eyes," earlier "having two eyes" (1713), from French binoculaire, from Latin bini "two by two, twofold, two apiece" (see binary) + ocularis "of the eye," from oculus "eye" (see eye (n.)). The double-tubed telescopic instrument (1871, short for binocular glass) earlier was called a binocle. Related: Binocularity.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
binocular
(bə-nŏk′yə-lər, bī-)- Adapted to the use of both eyes. Used of an optical instrument.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
binocular
[bə-nŏk′yə-lər]
- Relating to or involving both eyes at once, as in binocular vision.
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- An optical device, such as a pair of field glasses, consisting of two small telescopes, designed for use by both eyes at once. Often used in the plural as binoculars.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.