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compound eye

noun

an arthropod eye subdivided into many individual, light-receptive elements, each including a lens, a transmitting apparatus, and retinal cells.

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Origin of compound eye

First recorded in 1830–40

Words nearby compound eye

compound aneurysm, compound annual return, compound-complex sentence, compound dislocation, compound engine, compound eye, compound fault, compound flap, compound flower, compound fraction, compound fracture
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

British Dictionary definitions for compound eye

compound eye

noun

the convex eye of insects and some crustaceans, consisting of numerous separate light-sensitive units (ommatidia)See also ocellus
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

Scientific definitions for compound eye

compound eye

An eye consisting of hundreds or thousands of tiny light-sensitive parts (called ommatidia), with each part serving to focus light on the retina to create a portion of an image. Most insects and some crustaceans have compound eyes.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.