ocular, a. and n.
(ˈɒkjʊlə(r))
Also 6 ocul-, occul-, ocullare, 6–7 occular.
[ad. L. oculār-is, f. ocul-us eye. Cf. F. oculaire (R. Estienne 1549).]
1. Of, belonging to, or connected with the eye as a bodily organ; seated in, or in the region of, the eye. spec. in Entom., pertaining to the compound eye of an insect (distinguished from ocellar).
| 1597 A. M. tr. Guillemeau's Fr. Chirurg. 12 b/2 The Eye, or ocullare vayne. 1677 Plot Oxfordsh. 95 Ocular distempers in Horses. 1786 R. W. Darwin in Phil. Trans. LXXVI. 313 When any one has long and attentively looked at a bright object..an image..continues some time to be visible: this appearance in the eye we shall call the ocular spectrum of that object. 1828 Stark Elem. Nat. Hist. II. 150 Exterior antennæ..inserted near the ocular peduncles. 1831 Brewster Optics xxxvi. 304 The bluish green image of the wafer is called an ocular spectrum, because it is impressed on the eye. 1851–6 Woodward Mollusca 49 Snails, whose ocular tentacles have been destroyed, reproduce them completely in a few weeks. 1885 Thomas Med. Dict., Ocular Cone,..a cone formed in the eye by the rays of light, the base being on the cornea, the apex on the retina. 1898 E. E. Maddox Ocular Muscles iii. 65 Our studies of the ocular motions up to this point have been quite independent of the ocular muscles. |
b. Used for, applied to, or relating to the eye.
| 1599 A. M. tr. Gabelhouer's Bk. Physicke 53/1 A tryede Oculare vnguent. 1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. 83 It's used in ocular remedies. 1665–6 Phil. Trans. I. 120 He hath already begun his Object-Glasses for the mentioned two Ocular ones. 1889 Anthony's Photogr. Bull. II. 157 Abraded by the constant..insertion and withdrawal of the different eye pieces, leaving a..shining and reflecting surface at the ocular end. |
c. Of the nature, form, or function of an eye.
| 1640 Somner Antiq. Canterb. 171 The ocular and peeked or pointed form of the arch. 1659 D. Pell Impr. Sea 195 The excellency of that ocular Organ that God hath bestowed upon man. 1841–71 T. R. Jones Anim. Kingd. (ed. 4) 491 An ocular apparatus..composed of two eyes united together. |
d. Expressed by the eye; conveyed by the look of the eye.
| 1627 Donne Serm. V. 48 They did countenance that which was said with..ocular applause with fixing their eyes upon the Preacher. 1860 Emerson Cond. Life, Behaviour Wks. (Bohn) II. 384 The eyes of men converse as much as their tongues..the ocular dialect needs no dictionary. |
2. Belonging to the action of the eye, and hence to the sense of sight; visual. a. Made or performed by the eye or sight; done by means of the eye: chiefly in ocular inspection.
| c 1575 Balfour's Practicks (1754) 382 The Lordis of counsal, be ocular inspectioun, may decern..ony letter, contract..or uther writ, to be false and feinzeit. 1642 Howell For. Trav. (Arb.) 13 One's owne Ocular view..will still find out something new. 1830 Herschel Stud. Nat. Phil. §194 To make the induction of their law a matter of ocular inspection. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xli. (1856) 372 In these regions we have learned to distrust ocular measurements of distance. |
b. Obtained by the use of the eye; derived from what one has actually seen: as ocular testimony. ocular witness, an eye-witness. Now rare or Obs.
| 1608 Dekker Dead Tearme D iv, To bee an Occuler witnesse-bearer of what I speake. 1650 Bulwer Anthropomet. 93 Which will appeare more credible by the modern relations of some ocular witnesses. 1670 Walton Lives i. 44 He gave an ocular testimony of the strictness and regularity of [his life]. 1767 Blackstone Comm. II. xx. 313 Depending on the ocular testimony and remembrance of the witnesses. |
c. Addressed to the eye; perceived by or manifest to sight; visible; conveyed to the mind through the actual sight of a thing. (Chiefly, now almost exclusively, in ocular demonstration and the like; formerly said also of material things.)
| 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie ii. x[i]. (Arb.) 98 Your occular proportion doeth declare the nature of the audible: for if it please the eare well, the same represented by delineation to the view pleaseth the eye well. 1604 Shakes. Oth. iii. iii. 360 Giue me the Occular proofe. 1615 Chapman Odyss. xxiii. 349 The scar That still remaines a marke too ocular To leaue your heart yet blinded. 1638 Rouse Heav. Univ. Advt. (1702) 3 Giving his Testimony, by Ocular Demonstration. 1726 Butler Serm. Rolls ii. 27 The Science of Opticks, deduced from ocular Experiments. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 383 Of my zeal you shall have ocular demonstration. |
d. Of or pertaining to the sense of sight.
| 1831 Faraday Exp. Res. xliv. 291 A peculiar ocular deception. 1849 Ruskin Sev. Lamps vi. §4. 166 It is not a question of mere ocular delight. |
B. n.
† 1. Ocular quality or property; that which is manifest to sight: cf. A. 2 c. Obs.
| 1656 S. H. Gold. Law 70 Its Natures, and not Names; its occults, and not occulars, entitle to the title King. |
2. The eye-piece of a telescope, microscope, or other optical instrument.
| 1835 Lindley Introd. Bot. (1848) I. 17 An Amici's achromatic ocular. 1876 Webb in G. F. Chambers Astron. 745 The Ramsden ocular is never achromatic. 1890 Anthony's Photogr. Bull. III. 84 The objectives and compensating oculars now available for microscopical research. |
3. Humorously for ‘ocular organ’, ‘eye’.
| 1825 C. M. Westmacott Eng. Spy I. 164 The queerest looking oculars I had ever seen. 1881 W. S. Gilbert Patience, To cut his curly hair, and stick an eye-glass in his ocular. |