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telescope

Pronunciation: /ˈtɛl.ɪ.skəʊp/

The English word “telescope” has 8 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A monocular optical instrument that magnifies distant objects, especially in astronomy.
  2. Any instrument used in astronomy for observing distant objects (such as a radio telescope).
  3. A retractable tubular support for lights.
  4. A kind of goldfish with protruding eyes, first bred in China.

verb

  1. To extend or contract in the manner of a telescope.
  2. To slide or pass one within another, after the manner of the sections of a small telescope or spyglass.
  3. To come into collision, as railway cars, in such a manner that one runs into another.
  4. To collapse, via cancellation.

Etymology

From tele- + -scope. From Latin tēlescopium, from Ancient Greek τηλεσκόπος (tēleskópos, “far-seeing”), from τῆλε (têle, “afar”) + σκοπέω (skopéō, “to look at”). Coined in 1611 by the Greek mathematician Giovanni Demisiani for one of Galileo Galilei's instruments presented at a banquet at the Accademia dei Lincei. Doublet of Telescopium.

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