Mi"cro*scope (?), n. [Micro- + -scope.]
An optical instrument, consisting of a lens, or combination of lenses, for making an enlarged image of an object which is too minute to be viewed by the naked eye.
Compound microscope, an instrument consisting of a combination of lenses such that the image formed by the lens or set of lenses nearest the object (called the objective) is magnified by another lens called the ocular or eyepiece. -- Oxyhydrogen microscope, and Solar microscope. See under Oxyhydrogen, and Solar. -- Simple, ∨ Single, microscope, a single convex lens used to magnify objects placed in its focus.
© Webster 1913.