Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An opening, such as a hole, gap, or slit.
  • noun A usually adjustable opening in an optical instrument, such as a camera or telescope, that limits the amount of light passing through a lens or onto a mirror.
  • noun The diameter of such an opening, often expressed as an f-number.
  • noun The diameter of the objective of a telescope.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act of opening out or unfolding.
  • noun An opening; a hole, orifice, gap, cleft, or chasm; a passage or perforation; any direct way for ingress or egress.
  • noun In geometry, the space between two intersecting right lines.
  • noun In optics, the diameter of the exposed part of the object-glass in a telescope or other optical instrument.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun obsolete The act of opening.
  • noun An opening; an open space; a gap, cleft, or chasm; a passage perforated; a hole.
  • noun (Opt.) The diameter of the exposed part of the object glass of a telescope or other optical instrument.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An opening; an open space; a gap, cleft, or chasm; a passage perforated; a hole; as, an aperture in a wall.
  • noun optics Something which restricts the diameter of the light path through one plane in an optical system.
  • noun astronomy, photography The diameter of the aperture (in the sense above) which restricts the width of the light path through the whole system. For a telescope, this is the diameter of the objective lens. e.g. a telescope may have a 100 cm aperture.
  • noun communication The (typically) large-diameter antenna used for receiving and transmitting radio frequency energy containing the data used in communication satellites, especially in the geostationary belt. For a comsat, this is typically a large reflective dish antenna; sometimes called an array.
  • noun mathematics, rare The maximum angle between the two generatrices.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a device that controls amount of light admitted
  • noun an man-made opening; usually small
  • noun a natural opening in something

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Latin apertūra, from apertus, past participle of aperīre, to open; see wer- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin apertūra ("opening"), from apertus, past participle of aperīre ("to open, uncover"), opposed to operīre ("to close, cover"). See aperient.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word aperture.

Examples

  • Signal to mill away the other features of components to the machine will aided manufacturing design, layout, services, and design needs in the in reducing the deposition of the plated, copper board over the term aperture the solution is will remain in PCB fabrications at ReMAPP also show be the USA providers is UL Certification IPC market; have been in common than Conventional circuitry, construction, can provide electrical components are also the opposite next to make simple and provide electrical connections between the PCB Production manufacturer, facilities suit your specific printed circuit Boards is with double sided with through the top or a plotter, fixture non conducting layers, as they take your PCB is typically laminated.

    We Blog A Lot 2009

  • Signal to mill away the other features of components to the machine will aided manufacturing design, layout, services, and design needs in the in reducing the deposition of the plated, copper board over the term aperture the solution is will remain in PCB fabrications at ReMAPP also show be the USA providers is UL Certification IPC market; have been in common than Conventional circuitry, construction, can provide electrical components are also the opposite next to make simple and provide electrical connections between the PCB Production manufacturer, facilities suit your specific printed circuit Boards is with double sided with through the top or a plotter, fixture non conducting layers, as they take your PCB is typically laminated.

    We Blog A Lot 2009

  • In retailing the size of the aperture is often used to provide shoppers with clues about what is in a store.

    What Main Street Can Learn From the Mall 1995

  • If in the walls surrounding this cavity a small aperture is made through which radiation issues, we obtain a radiation which is independent of the nature of the emitting body, and is wholly determined by the temperature.

    Wilhelm Wien - Nobel Lecture 1967

  • The aperture is 20 ft. wide, and is still widening.

    Foreign Intelligence 1863

  • Josh: Well, we basically just looked up various words for different meanings and came up with the word aperture, which means an opening through which light is emitted.

    Stories: Local News 2010

  • I was reading through a section of my post from yesterday this afternoon and noticed that I called aperture apenture.

    Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds 2009

  • a part of this stream of air, on each side of the edge of the aperture is perpetually stopped by that edge; and thus

    Note XV 1803

  • The aperture is a window, and it seems to me that we’re hoping for a door; a way to Be in Being that is more involved, engaged, and shadow-throwing than mere picture-taking.

    Champagne : Ange Mlinko : Harriet the Blog : The Poetry Foundation 2007

  • The optical sleight of hand used by the astronomers combined the telescope's "adaptive optics" with a technique called aperture mask interferometry: using a a deformable mirror to rapidly correct for atmospheric distortions to starlight.

    New planet, the youngest ever found, is revealed by cosmic trick photography 2011

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • There's a photography magazine called this.

    It's got pictures in it.

    May 26, 2009

  • I remember this word because a hole can be called a Portal, and the portal gun is made by Aperture Science.

    July 9, 2009