n.
- An arrangement of lenses or mirrors or both that gathers visible light, permitting direct observation or photographic recording of distant objects.
- Any of various devices, such as a radio telescope, used to detect and observe distant objects by their emission, transmission, reflection, or other interaction with invisible radiation.
v., -scoped, -scop·ing, -scopes. v.tr.
- To cause to slide inward or outward in overlapping sections, as the cylindrical sections of a small hand telescope do.
- To make more compact or concise; condense.
To slide inward or outward in or as if in overlapping cylindrical sections: a camp bucket that telescopes into a disk.
[New Latin telescopium or Italian telescopio, both from Greek tēleskopos, far-seeing : tēle-, tele- + skopos, watcher.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
