eyeglasses

English

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈaɪ.ɡlæsɪz/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Etymology 1

Woman wearing eyeglasses

From eye +‎ glasses.

Alternative forms

• eye-glasses

Noun

eyeglasses pl (plural only)

1. (US) Spectacles, glasses.
   • 2013 September-October, Henry Petroski, “The Evolution of Eyeglasses”, in American Scientist, United States: Sigma Xi, →ISSN, →OCLC:

     Digging deeper, the invention of eyeglasses is an elaboration of the more fundamental development of optics technology. The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone, […].

Derived terms

• pair of eyeglasses

Translations

spectacles — see spectacles

See also

• lorgnette
• lorgnon

Etymology 2

Noun

eyeglasses

1. Plural of eyeglass.

Further reading

• “eyeglasses”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “eyeglasses”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “eyeglasses”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “eyeglasses”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.