lens

Borrowed from Latin lēns (“lentil”), in Medieval Latin later taking on the sense of "lens".

• IPA^(key): /lɛnz/

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• Rhymes: -ɛnz

lens (plural lenses or (obsolete) lens)

1. 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.

2. A device which focuses or defocuses electron beams.
3. (geometry) A convex shape bounded by two circular arcs, joined at their endpoints, the corresponding concave shape being a lune.
4. (biology) A genus of the legume family; its bean.
5. (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.

6. (earth science) A body of rock, ice, or water shaped like a convex lens.
7. (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."

lens

1. (obsolete) plural of lens

lens (third-person singular simple present lenses, present participle lensing, simple past and past participle lensed)

1. (transitive) To film, shoot.
2. (geology) To become thinner towards the edges.

From Dutch lens, from Latin lēns (“lentil”).

lens (plural lense)

1. lens

lens n

1. genitive singular indefinite of len
2. genitive plural indefinite of len

• IPA^(key): /lɛns/
• Hyphenation: lens
• Rhymes: -ɛns

Borrowed from Latin lēns (“lentil”).

lens f (plural lenzen, diminutive lensje n)

1. (optics) optical lens
2. crystalline lens in the eye

• lensafsluiter m
• telelens f

lens m (plural lenzen, diminutive lensje n)

1. harpoon

lens f (plural lenzen, diminutive lensje n)

1. Alternative form of luns

lens (comparative lenzer, superlative meest lens or lenst)

1. empty

• snel

Unknown, likely a borrowing from an unidentified source.

Compare Old High German linsa, Lithuanian lęšis, and Old Church Slavonic лѧща (lęšta) 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 loanword, locating the source is virtually impossible because cultivation of lentil was widespread in the region since the Neolithic.

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /lens/, [ɫẽːs]

lēns f (genitive lentis); third declension

1. A lentil bean.

Third declension.

• lenticula
• lentīgō

• 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, page 334

lēns f (genitive lendis); third declension

1. nit (egg of a louse)

Third declension.

• 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

lens (definite accusative lensi, plural lensler)

1. contact lens

• kontakt/kontak lens