tel·e·scope
telescope
- pronunciation:
- te
l
skop
- parts of speech:
- noun, transitive verb, intransitive verb
- features:
- Word History, Word Explorer
| part of speech: |
noun |
| definition 1: |
an optical instrument, usu. cylindrical, that employs lenses and sometimes mirrors to enlarge the images of distant objects, esp. those in outer space.
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| definition 2: |
any of various devices that gather information about very distant objects by measuring their radio waves or other emissions.
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| part of speech: |
transitive verb |
| inflections: |
telescoped, telescopes, telescoping |
| definition 1: |
to slide or force together (the tubes of a hand telescope or the like), often in sections that fit inside one another.
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| definition 2: |
to make shorter and more concise.
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| part of speech: |
intransitive verb |
| definition 1: |
to be slid or become forced together or into one another.
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| definition 2: |
to become longer or shorter, usu. by having overlapping tubular segments that slide out or in.
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| definition 3: |
to become condensed or more concise.
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Galileo used the Italian word
telescopio in 1611 for the instrument that he had built. The word came from an ancient Greek word that means "far-seeing." "Telescope" was first used in English about fifty years later.