spyglass

[ spahy-glas, -glahs ]

noun
  1. a small telescope.

Origin of spyglass

1
First recorded in 1700–10; spy + glass

Words Nearby spyglass

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use spyglass in a sentence

  • Tuning in to interstellar radio waves for the first time was akin to Galileo pointing a modified spyglass at the stars centuries earlier — we could see things in the sky we’d never seen before.

    How radio astronomy put new eyes on the cosmos | Christopher Crockett | August 31, 2021 | Science News
  • After a few moments, and with Frane's aid, Russ Bunker got the wooden spyglass focused on the proper point.

  • Old Mrs. Bounderby h'isted the gold-mounted double spyglass she had slung round her neck and took an observation.

    Cape Cod Stories | Joseph C. Lincoln
  • Fritz remained by me while I examined the object through my spyglass.

    The Swiss Family Robinson | Johann David Wyss
  • A preventive man (as the revenue officers are called), with his spyglass under his arm, passed him.

    The Ferryman of Brill | William H. G. Kingston
  • Now, though, his thoughts were taken up by the problem of getting away unobserved by the spyglass man.

    The Heritage of the Hills | Arthur P. Hankins

British Dictionary definitions for spyglass

spyglass

/ (ˈspaɪˌɡlɑːs) /


noun
  1. a small telescope

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