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compound microscope

American  

noun

  1. an optical instrument for forming magnified images of small objects, consisting of an objective lens with a very short focal length and an eyepiece with a longer focal length, both lenses mounted in the same tube.


compound microscope British  

noun

  1. an instrument for magnifying small objects, consisting of a lens of short focal length for forming an image that is further magnified by a second lens of longer focal length Compare simple microscope

"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

Etymology

Origin of compound microscope

First recorded in 1865–70


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Galileo had his telescope, Louis Pasteur had a compound microscope and American scientists today have … the treadmill?

From Washington Times ● Dec. 31, 2023

When processed properly, scientists like Lackmann can examine the otolith with a compound microscope and count the layers, like the rings on a tree, and learn the age of the fish.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 30, 2023

Figure 26.16 A compound microscope composed of two lenses, an objective and an eyepiece.

From Textbooks ● Aug. 12, 2015

There's always the distorting lens of one's own mind to be taken into consideration; quite often there's another fellow's: the eye-piece of the compound microscope, and the objective.

From The Brentons by Wilson C. Dexter

It is true that the Cinque Ports was called a buccaneer, instead of a pirate, but no man can see the difference between buccaneering and piracy without the help of a large-sized compound microscope.

From Harper's Young People, July 13, 1880 An Illustrated Weekly by Various

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