TELESCOPE

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does telescope mean? 

• TELESCOPE (noun)
  The noun TELESCOPE has 1 sense:

1. a magnifier of images of distant objects

  Familiarity information: TELESCOPE used as a noun is very rare.

• TELESCOPE (verb)
  The verb TELESCOPE has 2 senses:

1. crush together or collapse

2. make smaller or shorter

  Familiarity information: TELESCOPE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TELESCOPE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A magnifier of images of distant objects

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

scope; telescope

Hypernyms ("telescope" is a kind of...):

magnifier (a scientific instrument that magnifies an image)

Meronyms (parts of "telescope"):

aperture (a device that controls amount of light admitted)

finder; view finder; viewfinder (optical device that helps a user to find the target of interest)

optical prism; prism (optical device having a triangular shape and made of glass or quartz; used to deviate a beam or invert an image)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "telescope"):

astronomical telescope (any telescope designed to collect and record electromagnetic radiation from cosmic sources)

collimator (a small telescope attached to a large telescope to use in setting the line of the larger one)

equatorial (a telescope whose mounting has only two axes of motion, one parallel to the Earth's axis and the other one at right angles to it)

solar telescope (a telescope designed to make observations of the sun)

transit instrument (a telescope mounted on an axis running east and west and used to time the transit of a celestial body across the meridian)

Derivation:

telescopic (capable of discerning distant objects)

telescopic (visible only with a telescope)

• TELESCOPE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they telescope    ... he / she / it telescopes   
Past simple: telescoped   
Past participle: telescoped   
-ing form: telescoping   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Crush together or collapse

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

my hiking sticks telescope and can be put into the backpack

Hypernyms (to "telescope" is one way to...):

crush; mash; squash; squeeze; squelch (to compress with violence, out of natural shape or condition)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make smaller or shorter

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

the novel was telescoped into a short play

Hypernyms (to "telescope" is one way to...):

concentrate; condense; digest (make more concise)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

These bodies are difficult to study even with powerful telescopes, as they are small, shine very little, and are so far away from Earth.

(Brazil astronomers discover ring around dwarf planet near Pluto, Agência Brasil)

The first infrared satellite telescope, it observed the sky in infrared wavelengths blocked by Earth's atmosphere, providing the first-ever view of the universe in those wavelengths.

(Spitzer Studies a Stellar Playground With a Long History, NASA)

The unusual system was captured by several observatories, including three NASA space telescopes.

(Three Black Holes on Collision Course, NASA)

The research team discovered NGTS-1b using the Next-Generation Transit Survey (NGTS), an array of telescopes physically located in Chile, which was designed to search for planets around bright stars.

(Astronomers report dwarf star with unexpectedly giant planet, Wikinews)

The rounded features captured by the telescope, of course, are not actually yellow, red, or green—they just appear that way in the infrared, color-assigned images that the telescope sends to Earth.

(Citizen Scientists Discover Yellow "Space Balls", NASA)

Astronomers are urgently working to point telescopes around the world and in space at this notable object.

(Small Asteroid or Comet 'Visits' from Beyond the Solar System, NASA)

Follow-up observations with ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) and other telescopes revealed that the radio pulses have passed through the halo of a massive galaxy on their way toward Earth.

(Enigmatic radio burst illuminates a galaxy’s tranquil ​halo, ESO)

We watched the rapid progress of the traveller with our telescopes until he was lost among the distant inequalities of the ice.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

I have crammed it and telescoped it.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

This exoplanet system, which actually boasts three super-puffs orbiting a young Sun-like star, was discovered by NASA's Kepler space telescope in 2012.

('Cotton Candy' Planet Mysteries Unravel in New Hubble Observations, NASA)