spyglass

/ˌspaɪˈglæs/

Other forms: spyglasses

A lightweight telescope you can hold in your hand is a spyglass. You might picture a pirate or an explorer standing on the bow of a ship peering through a brass spyglass and then shouting, "Land ho!"

Spyglasses were originally used by 17th-century ship captains and other seafaring folks. They were small and portable, often collapsible, and almost always made of brass. Though they were much less powerful than today's telescopes, they did magnify distant images to make far-away objects visible. Spyglasses are sometimes used today, though modern navigation makes them less important, and most people choose high powered binoculars instead.

Definitions of spyglass

1. noun

   a small refracting telescope
   synonyms: field glass, glass

   type of:

   refracting telescope

   optical telescope that has a large convex lens that produces an image that is viewed through the eyepiece