lens Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun a transparent optical device used to converge or diverge transmitted light and to form images
lens system; lense.
noun genus of small erect or climbing herbs with pinnate leaves and small inconspicuous white flowers and small flattened pods: lentils
genus Lens.
noun (metaphor) a channel through which something can be seen or understood
- the writer is the lens through which history can be seen
noun biconvex transparent body situated behind the iris in the eye; its role (along with the cornea) is to focuses light on the retina
lens of the eye; crystalline lens.
noun electronic equipment that uses a magnetic or electric field in order to focus a beam of electrons
electron lens.

L. lens a lentil. So named from the resemblance in shape of a double convex lens to the seed of a lentil. Cf. Lentil.

plural Lenses

(Opt.) 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.
Lenses
✍ Of spherical lenses, there are six varieties, as shown in section in the figures herewith given: viz., a plano-concave; b double-concave; c plano-convex; d double-convex; converging concavo-convex, or converging meniscus; f diverging concavo-convex, or diverging meniscus.