eye-glass, n.
(ˈaɪglɑːs, -glæs)
[f. eye n.1 + glass.]
† 1. The crystalline lens of the eye. Obs.
| 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. i. ii. 268 Your eye-glasse Is thicker then a Cuckolds Horne. |
2. A glass to shield or protect the eye.
| 1823 J. Badcock Dom. Amusem. 65 Wearing a visor with eye-glasses in it. |
3. † a. A magnifying glass, a microscope (obs.). b. In mod. use, a lens of glass or crystal for assisting defective sight. double eye-glass, (pair of) eyeglasses: two such lenses mounted side by side so as to assist the sight of both eyes; the name is by usage restricted to a pair of lenses to be held in the hand or kept in position by a spring on the nose; those which are secured by pieces of metal placed over the ears being called spectacles.
| 1767 Harmer in Phil. Trans. LVII. 283, I have often found, by the help of an eye-glass, that..I passed over great multitudes of eggs. 1807 Director I. 233 He uses his eye⁓glass more than his prayer-book. 1859 G. Meredith R. Feverel xxix, Eyes are bearable, but eye-glasses an abomination. 1863 M. E. Braddon Eleanor's Vict. (1878) I. ii. 17 The old man put a double gold eyeglass over his nose, and began to read. 1883 F. M. Peard Contrad. xxvii, She fancied there had been something of the eye-glass manner about him. 1883 F. M. Crawford Dr. Claudius iii, She wore gold-rimmed eyeglasses. |
4. The lens at that end of any optical instrument to which the eye is applied.
| 1664 Phil. Trans. I. 2 He useth three Eye-Glasses for his great Telescopes. 1672 Gregory in Rigaud Corr. Sci. Men (1841) II. 242 The..plano-convex eyeglass. 1704 Newton Opticks i. i. viii. (1721) 92 A pretty good Perspective..made with a concave Eyeglass. 1782 Ramsden in Phil. Trans. (1783) LXXIII. 99 Thus we have a system of eye-glasses which may be taken out of the telescope. 1816 J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art I. 484 The focal distance of the eye⁓glass. 1837 Goring & Pritchard Microgr. 56 The solar focus of its eye-glass. 1867 J. Hogg Microsc. i. ii. 31 The other to magnify this image, and from being next the eye of the observer, called the eye-glass. |
5. A glass adapted for the application of remedies to the eye.
| 1842 Dunglison Mod. Lex., Eye Glass, Scaphium oculare. 1884 in Syd. Soc. Lex., Eye-glass, a hollow cup⁓shaped glass for applying lotions to the eye. |
Hence eyeglassed a., furnished with an eye-glass or eyeglasses.
| 1848 Clough Bothie i. 9 Noble ladies..Bowing their eye⁓glassed brows. 1891 M. E. Mann Winter's Tale II. ii. iv. 181 The eyeglassed young man. |