field glass

[feeld glas]

noun

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

field glass

noun

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

2. a former name for field glasses

Word History and Origins

Origin of field glass¹

First recorded in 1885–90

Example Sentences

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.

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A dioptric telescope, fitted with two tubes joining, so as to enable a person to view an object with both eyes at once; a doubleÏbarreled field glass or an opera glass.

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The General presented the field glass to Major Lawrence Lewis, his favorite nephew, in 1799, the last year of his life.

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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.

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I watered my horses here, and drawing forth a powerful field glass, which I had made occasional use of along the route, surveyed the country.

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