lens
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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Alternative forms
- (misspelling) lense
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin lēns (“lentil”), with Medieval Latin later taking on the sense of “lens”, a semantic loan from Arabic عَدْسَة (ʕadsa, “lentil; optic lens”).
Pronunciation
Noun
lens (plural lenses or (obsolete) lens or (rare) lentes)
- (optics) An object, usually made of glass, that focuses or defocuses the light that passes through it.
- 2013 July-August, Catherine Clabby, “Focus on Everything”, in American Scientist:
- Not long ago, it was difficult to produce photographs of tiny creatures with every part in focus. That’s because the lenses that are excellent at magnifying tiny subjects produce a narrow depth of field.
- A device which focuses or defocuses electron beams.
- (geometry) A convex shape bounded by two circular arcs, joined at their endpoints, the corresponding concave shape being a lune.
- (biology) A genus of the legume family; its bean.
- (anatomy) The transparent crystalline structure in the eye.
- 2013 July-August, Fenella Saunders, “Tiny Lenses See the Big Picture”, in American Scientist:
- The single-imaging optic of the mammalian eye offers some distinct visual advantages. Such lenses can take in photons from a wide range of angles, increasing light sensitivity. They also have high spatial resolution, resolving incoming images in minute detail.
- (earth science) A body of rock, ice, or water shaped like a convex lens.
- (programming) A construct used in statically-typed functional programming languages to access nested data structures.
- (by extension, figuratively) A way of looking, literally or figuratively, at something.
- 2004 April 11, Ann Hulbert, “Are the Kids All Right?”, in The New York Times Magazine, page 11:
- If "the public looks at the condition of America's children largely through a negative lens," worries Child Trends […] , "it may be more difficult to […] promote child well-being."
- 2023 April 26, Benjamin Lee, quoting Steven Spielberg, “Steven Spielberg: ‘No film should be revised’ based on modern sensitivity”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
- No film should be revised based on the lenses we now are, either voluntarily, or being forced to peer through.
Derived terms
Terms derived from lens (noun)
- achromatic lens
- Barlow lens
- best form lens
- burning lens
- capsule of lens
- circle contact lens
- circle lens
- close-up lens
- contact lens
- convex lens
- corrective lens
- corrugated lens
- delens
- echelon lens
- explosive lens
- eye lens
- field lens
- fisheye lens
- fish-eye lens
- Fresnel lens
- goniolens
- gravitational lens
- hyperlens
- immersion lens
- kit lens
- lensatic
- lens blank
- lens board
- lens brush
- lens cap
- lensectomy
- lenser
- lens flare
- lensfree
- lenshound
- lensless
- lenslet
- lenslike
- lens louse
- lensmaker
- lensmaking
- lensman
- lensmeter
- lensoid
- lensoidal
- lensometry
- lenswoman
- lenticel
- lenticular
- lenticule
- lentil
- lentoid
- long-focus lens
- long lens
- macrolens
- macro lens
- magnetic lens
- metalens
- microlens
- multiplying lens
- nanolens
- narrow-angle lens
- normal lens
- objective lens
- pancake lens
- pebble lens
- Petzval lens
- prime lens
- semilens
- shoot the lens
- single lens reflex
- single-lens reflex
- spot lens
- standard lens
- sublens
- superlens
- telephotographic lens
- telephoto lens
- varifocal lens
- water lens
- wide-angle lens
- zoom lens
Descendants
- → Bengali: লেন্স (lenś)
- → Turkish: lens
Translations
object focusing or defocusing the light passing through it
|
device which focuses or defocuses electron beams
geometry: convex shape bounded by two circular arcs
biology: genus of the legume family; its bean
|
anatomy: transparent crystalline structure in the eye
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
|
Verb
lens (third-person singular simple present lenses, present participle lensing, simple past and past participle lensed)
- (transitive, cinematography) To film, shoot.
- 2020 May 7, Katie Rife, “If you’re looking to jump in your seat, make a playdate with Z”, in The Onion AV Club, archived from the original on 16 May 2020:
- It’s set in an anonymous, upper-middle-class suburb, lensed in the generic gunmetal gray that will one day appear as dated as the fuzzy outlines of ’80s direct-to-video horror movies.
- (geology) To become thinner towards the edges.
Translations
Anagrams
Etymology
Pronunciation
Audio: (file)
Noun
lens (plural lense)
Noun
lens n
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
Borrowed from Latin lēns (“lentil”).
Noun
lens f (plural lenzen, diminutive lensje n)
Derived terms
- contactlens
- lensafsluiter
- lensdop
- ooglens
- telelens
Descendants
Etymology 2
Probably related to lans (“lance”).
Noun
lens m (plural lenzen, diminutive lensje n)
- (historical) a type of barbless harpoon used for killing whales
Etymology 3
From Middle Dutch lense, of uncertain origin. Perhaps a variant of Middle Dutch lunse (see luns), or perhaps a dialectal borrowing from Old Frisian *lens, *lenis, from Proto-West Germanic *lunis, related to Old English lynis (“linchpin”).
Noun
lens f (plural lenzen, diminutive lensje n)
- Alternative form of luns
Etymology 4
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Adjective
lens (comparative lenzer, superlative meest lens or lenst)
Declension
| Declension of lens | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| uninflected | lens | |||
| inflected | lenze | |||
| comparative | lenzer | |||
| positive | comparative | superlative | ||
| predicative/adverbial | lens | lenzer | het lenst het lenste | |
| indefinite | m./f. sing. | lenze | lenzere | lenste |
| n. sing. | lens | lenzer | lenste | |
| plural | lenze | lenzere | lenste | |
| definite | lenze | lenzere | lenste | |
| partitive | lens | lenzers | — | |
Derived terms
Descendants
- Petjo: lens
Anagrams
Etymology
Pronunciation
Noun
lens
- glow, gleam
- 1936, L. G. Terehova, V. G. Erdeli, translated by P. I. Maksimov and N. A. Iljin, Geografia: oppikirja iƶoroin alkușkoulun neljättä klaassaa vart (toine osa), Leningrad: Riikin Ucebno-Pedagogiceskoi Izdateljstva, page 43:
- Illoittee ussian kymmenän kilometran pääst näkkyy lens, kumpa ono elektrovalkiaal valaistuin kombinatan hoonein pääl.
- In the evenings, the glow over the industrial complex's buildings that are flooded with electrical light, are visible from multiple kilometers away.
Declension
| Declension of lens (type 5/vesi, nt-nn gradation) | ||
|---|---|---|
| singular | plural | |
| nominative | lens | lennet |
| genitive | lennen | lensiin, lensilöin |
| partitive | lenttä | lensiä, lensilöjä |
| illative | lentee | lensii, lensilöihe |
| inessive | lennees | lensiis, lensilöis |
| elative | lennest | lensist, lensilöist |
| allative | lennelle | lensille, lensilöille |
| adessive | lenneel | lensiil, lensilöil |
| ablative | lennelt | lensilt, lensilöilt |
| translative | lenneks | lensiks, lensilöiks |
| essive | lenteennä, lenteen | lensiinnä, lensilöinnä, lensiin, lensilöin |
| exessive1) | lentent | lensint, lensilöint |
| 1) obsolete *) the accusative corresponds with either the genitive (sg) or nominative (pl) **) the comitative is formed by adding the suffix -ka? or -kä? to the genitive. | ||
Synonyms
Etymology 1
Unknown, likely a borrowing from an unidentified source.
Compare Old High German linsa (“lentil”), Lithuanian lęšis (“lentil”), Proto-Slavic *lęťa (“lentil”), and Albanian lend (“acorn”), sounding too similar for a coincidence, however different enough to prohibit reconstruction of a common PIE protoform. May also be related to Ancient Greek λάθυρος (láthuros).
If ultimately a non-IE substrate loanword, locating the source is virtually impossible because cultivation of lentil was widespread in the region since the Neolithic.
Pronunciation
- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): /lens/, [ɫ̪ẽːs̠]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /lens/, [lɛns]
Noun
lēns f (genitive lentis); third declension
Declension
Third-declension noun (i-stem, accusative singular in -em or -im, ablative singular in -e or -ī).
Derived terms
Descendants
- Aromanian: linti
- → Catalan: lent
- Friulian: lint
- → Galician: lente
- → Italian: lente
- → Portuguese: lente
- Romanian: linte
- Sicilian: lenti
- → Spanish: lente
- Venetan: lente
- → Dutch: lens (learned) (see there for further descendants)
- → English: lens (learned) (see there for further descendants)
- → Proto-West Germanic: *linsī (see there for further descendants)
Etymology 2
Unknown. According to de Vaan, perhaps a deformed form of what is found as Proto-Slavic *gňìda (“nit”), Proto-Germanic *hnits (“nit”), Ancient Greek κονίς (konís) (gen. κονίδος (konídos)), Armenian անիծ (anic, “nit”); he proposes Proto-Indo-European *dḱ(o)nid- > *dkni-n-d- > *dklind- > Proto-Italic *(d)lind-. However, like the Indo-European cognates, it may be of substrate origin.
Noun
lēns f (genitive lendis); third declension
Declension
Third-declension noun.
Descendants
References
- De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “lēns, -tis”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 334
- Ernout, Alfred, Meillet, Antoine (1985) “lens”, in Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue latine: histoire des mots (in French), 4th edition, with additions and corrections of Jacques André, Paris: Klincksieck, published 2001, page 351
- Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “lens, -dis”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volume 5: J L, page 250
Further reading
- “lens”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “lens”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- lens in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
Etymology
Noun
lens (definite accusative lensi, plural lensler)
Declension
Synonyms
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