field glass

American  

[feeld glas] / ˈfild ˌglæs /

noun

1. Usually field glasses. binoculars for use out of doors.

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field glass British  

noun

1. a small telescope often incorporating a prism and held in one hand

2. a former name for field glasses

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Etymology

Origin of field glass

First recorded in 1885–90

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

field glass

But they are drilled solidly in such elementary stuff as rolling a pack, using field glass and compass, managing fire distribution and control.

From Time Magazine Archive

During the long war, Billy Lee usually carried the general’s field glass, or telescope, and “most precious letters,” perhaps those from his wife, Martha, most of which she later destroyed.

From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis

Old castles surmount the hilltops, but one needs a field glass to see them.

From The Car That Went Abroad Motoring Through the Golden Age by Paine, Albert Bigelow

They had even borrowed Spoof's field glass so that they could sweep the horizon to the eastward far beyond Mrs. Alton's.

From Neighbours by Stead, Robert J. C.

Standing up and lifting his field glass to his eyes he could just see, over the intervening vessels, a capsized canoe, a number of men swimming in the river, and others moving on the bank.

From Samba A Story of the Rubber Slaves of the Congo by Strang, Herbert