Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. 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.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A general view or comprehensive summary. [Rare.]
- n. 2. An instrument by which objects in a horizontal view may be seen through a vertical tube. It is used in piloting submarine boats, and consists substantially of a vertical tube with a lenticular total-reflection prism at the top, by which horizontal rays are projected downward through the tube, and brought to a focus, after which they are received by a lens the principal focus of which coincides with that point. The vertical cylindrical beam thus formed is converted into a horizontal one again by a mirror inclined at 45° from the vertical axis of the tube, and is thus conveyed to an eyepiece, through which, by turning the tube on its vertical axis with its attached prism, a view of all the supernatant objects around the vessel may be obtained. A screen or diaphragm operated by a tangent-screw is used to cut off the view of the vertical plane in which the sun is.
- n. in photography, a photographic lens having a wide angle (90° or more).
Wiktionary
- n. A form of viewing device that allows the viewer to see things at a different height level and usually with minimal visibility.
- n. obsolete : A general or comprehensive view.
- v. intransitive To rise and peer around, in the manner of a periscope.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. rare A general or comprehensive view.
WordNet 3.0
- n. an optical instrument that provides a view of an otherwise obstructed field
Etymologies
- From peri- + -scope. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“The periscope is turned on and you are able to view the outside by clicing on the lense.”
“How the levers on the right side of the periscope is placed decide what you see outside.”
“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.”
The Wall Street Journal: He Supplied the Gadgets to Scientists of All Ages
“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.”
“Then the periscope is the one weak spot in a submarine?" asked”
“The tinkle of broken glass sliding down the bamboo tube told that the periscope was a wreck.”
“The mirror affair, which Mr. Holcombe called a periscope, was put in that day and worked amazingly well.”
“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
“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.”
“Even the periscope is a much more complex instrument, containing radar and image manipulation devices, along with the traditional visual information.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘periscope’.
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Mundane Transformers
Bore that meets the eye.
potamogeton, testator, scrutator, isolator, confiteor, deflator, qwerty, susceptor, champertor, preemptor, disinfector, infractor and 91 more...
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IMCO - EU nomenclature
includes words of the "Prodcom list"
abaca, abdominal, abrasive, absorbent, absorber, accelerator, accessory, account book, accumulator, acebutolol, acetaldehyde, acetamide and 4515 more...
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Steampunk
Words used quite often in steampunk
ansible, airship, chymical, valve, clockwork, dirigible, thaumaturgy, copper, bronze, difference engine, gear, rivets and 521 more...
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peri-
round or about; nearest
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The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
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Tunie: Word Disassociation
(I'm fairly sure that I'm subverting the whole concept of the Tunie by listing this song. Subversion! Yes! HA HA HA HA! Mine is an evil laugh!!!)
Word Disassociation
antidisestablishm..., quickly, ruby, bionic, about, crouch, a cappella, imposter, flames, distraction, murderous, over and 181 more...
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kirstenio's Words
lascivious, transcendant, phantasmagoria, salacious, beatitude, solitude, pseudo, pretentious, inanity, sublimation, clobber, obscurity and 186 more...
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schinders's Words
persiflage, preterition, quidnunc, finick, termagant, otiose, magniloquent, weltschmerz, schadenfreude, piehole, malevolent, susurrus and 132 more...
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NTDW1
template, modal, sublingual, tandem, polycentric, septuagenarian, token, irrevocable, denotive, augural, aberrant, phlebotomy and 1188 more...
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Reading Reading
Words from the works of Peter Reading - at least one from each (except the Schwitters-esque erosions, cut-ups etc).
overbright, pimpled, muskiness, effuse, stoup, maul, unlevel, viscid, perfidious, glibly, aloes, drouth and 449 more...
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Addenda to the 1923 Printing of Webst...
Many of these words first came into common usage during World War I, and reflect not only the technological and scientific leaps of the early part of the 20th century, but the new experience of glo...
abri, ace, acidosis, airdrome, air fleet, airplane, air raid, airworthy, altimeter, anaphylaxis, anociassociation, anti-aircraft and 292 more...
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merfee's Words
supple, dichotomy, relish, rhapsody, pneumonoultramicr..., embrace, ishmael, ebullient, recalcitrant, elegy, char, lugubrious and 522 more...
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Underworld
Don DeLillo
roily, reverie, slidy, bandido, mohair, brilliantine, stupe, juke step, jowly, juke, wicket, quidbit and 391 more...
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Rocketeer's Words
defenestrate, shutterbug, antique, periscope, dogma, peculiar, eccentric, banana, apple, pear, cherry, photograph and 189 more...
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Greek Spelling Bee List
need to know these words!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
lethargy, biopsy, enthusiasm, odyssey, synonym, calypso, character, eclectic, chronology, cosmetic, cynical, hypothesis and 128 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, P
pellucid, pertain, pampas, prate, pinecone, philistine, pantocrator, papaverine, postmeridian, potlatch, pharology, pinniped and 622 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for periscope.
yarb ...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 Jun 26, 2008
reesetee So that's how you spell that sound! Oct 8, 2007
oroboros "Down periscope! Dive! Dive!" *aooga, aooga* Oct 8, 2007
sonofgroucho The only way is up. Oct 8, 2007