microscopical, a.
(maɪkrəʊˈskɒpɪkəl)
[Formed as prec. + -al1.]
1. Pertaining or relating to the microscope or its use; resembling what pertains to a microscope.
| 1664 Phil. Trans. I. 28 The Microscopical view of the Edges of Rasors. 1681 Glanvill Sadducismus i. (1682) 7 The certainty of which I believe the improvement of microscopical Observations will discover. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. ii. xxiii. §12. 140 And if by the help of such Microscopical Eyes (if I may so call them) a Man could penetrate farther than ordinary into the..radical Texture of Bodies. 1796 Bp. Watson Apol. Bible ix. (ed. 2) 94 The microscopical discoveries of modern times. 1879 Rutley Stud. Rocks x. 104 Unsatisfactory in the present state of microscopical knowledge. 1883 Proctor in Knowledge 18 May 300/2 Are not microscopical papers in progress? |
2. = microscopic 3. Now rare.
| 1769 Barrington in Phil. Trans. LIX. 31 Still smaller microscopical insects. 1771 W. Jones Zool. Eth. 76 The microscopical feathers upon the wing of a moth. 1871 Hartwig Subterr. W. ii. 10 The aggregated remains of microscopical animals. 1880 Günther Fishes 114 It is the membrana argentea, and composed of microscopical crystals. |