camera obscura

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A darkened chamber in which the real image of an object is received through a small opening or lens and focused in natural color onto a facing surface rather than recorded on a film or plate.

Wiktionary

1. n. A darkened chamber in which the image of an outside object is projected and focused onto a surface

GNU Webster's 1913

1. (Opt.) An apparatus in which the images of external objects, formed by a convex lens or a concave mirror, are thrown on a paper or other white surface placed in the focus of the lens or mirror within a darkened chamber, or box, so that the outlines may be traced.
2. (Photog.) An apparatus in which the image of an external object or objects is, by means of lenses, thrown upon a sensitized plate or surface placed at the back of an extensible darkened box or chamber variously modified; -- commonly called simply the camera.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a darkened enclosure in which images of outside objects are projected through a small aperture or lens onto a facing surface