"lens" Definition

Definitions for the word "lens" from multiple English dictionaries.

1. n.
A piece of glass, or other transparent substance, ground with two opposite regular surfaces, either both curved, or one curved and the other plane, and commonly used, either singly or combined, in optical instruments, for changing the direction of rays of light, and thus magnifying objects, or otherwise modifying vision. In practice, the curved surfaces are usually spherical, though rarely cylindrical, or of some other figure.
Source: The 1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary, 1913
2. n.
1 piece of a transparent substance with one or (usu.) Both sides curved for concentrating or dispersing light-rays esp. In optical instruments. 2 combination of lenses used in photography. 3 transparent substance behind the iris of the eye. 4 = *contact lens. [latin lens lent- lentil (from the similarity of shape)]
Source: Oxford English Dictionary, 1884

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