telescope

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   An instrument that makes distant objects look closer and larger, especially stars and planets.

   Through the telescope we could clearly see the rings of Saturn.

2. 2
   verb

   To slide together or become shorter, like the sections of a folding telescope.

   The legs of the stand telescope down so it fits in a bag.

3. 3
   verb

   To make something shorter or combine it into less space or time.

   The director telescoped the long novel into a two-hour film.

From tele- + -scope. From Latin tēlescopium, from Ancient Greek τηλεσκόπος (tēleskópos, “far-seeing”), from τῆλε (têle, “afar”) + σκοπέω (skopéō, “to look at”). Coined in 1611 by the Greek mathematician Giovanni Demisiani for one of Galileo Galilei's instruments presented at a banquet at the Accademia dei Lincei. Doublet of Telescopium.

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