compound eye

American  

noun

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

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compound eye British  

noun

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

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compound eye Scientific  

1. 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.

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Etymology

Origin of compound eye

First recorded in 1830–40