Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any of various tubular optical instruments that contain reflecting elements, such as mirrors and prisms, to permit observation from a position displaced from a direct line of sight.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun in photography, a photographic lens having a wide angle (90° or more).
- noun A general view or comprehensive summary. [Rare.]
- noun 2. An instrument by which objects in a horizontal view may be seen through a vertical tube.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun rare A general or comprehensive view.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A form of viewing device that allows the viewer to see things at a different height level and usually with minimal visibility.
- noun obsolete : A general or comprehensive view.
- verb intransitive To rise and
peer around, in the manner of a periscope.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an optical instrument that provides a view of an otherwise obstructed field
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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How the levers on the right side of the periscope is placed decide what you see outside.
Archive 2008-05-01 2008
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The periscope is turned on and you are able to view the outside by clicing on the lense.
Archive 2008-05-01 2008
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The company's Barrington, N.J., showroom burgeoned with government-surplus supplies, an array of telescopes and a functioning 38-foot periscope from a Japanese submarine.
He Supplied the Gadgets to Scientists of All Ages Stephen Miller 2012
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There was a large hole in the pressure hull around one and a half meters to two meters, and now we know for sure that in result of that powerful blast for 75 or 80 percent of the crew died within 90 seconds since the submarine was at so-called periscope depth at the moment, which implies that all the crew were at battalion stations in the first two or three water-tight compartments.
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"Then the periscope is the one weak spot in a submarine?" asked
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The tinkle of broken glass sliding down the bamboo tube told that the periscope was a wreck.
Panther Eye 1918
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The mirror affair, which Mr. Holcombe called a periscope, was put in that day and worked amazingly well.
The Case of Jennie Brice Mary Roberts Rinehart 1917
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The mirror affair, which Mr. Holcombe called a periscope, was put in that day and worked amazingly well.
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To avoid this tell-tale an instrument called a periscope has been invented, which looks like a bottle on the end of a tube; this has lenses and mirrors that reflect into the interior of the submarine whatever shows above water.
Stories of Inventors The Adventures of Inventors and Engineers Russell Doubleday 1910
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The principle of the periscope is the same as that of the "busybody," familiar to householders, and which is placed on the sill of an upper window, so that a person inside the house may see who is at the front door.
Kelly Miller's History of the World War for Human Rights Kelly Miller 1901
sonofgroucho commented on the word periscope
The only way is up.
October 8, 2007
oroboros commented on the word periscope
"Down periscope! Dive! Dive!" *aooga, aooga*
October 9, 2007
reesetee commented on the word periscope
So that's how you spell that sound!
October 9, 2007
yarb commented on the word periscope
...the parcel
which now had a little window cut in it
though which a tiny periscope had been
insinuated establishing that
the contents were four small pots of jam.
- Peter Reading, Dr Cooper's Story, from Nothing for Anyone, 1977
June 26, 2008