optic

• optick, optique (obsolete)

Borrowed from Middle French optique or Medieval Latin opticus, from Ancient Greek ὀπτῐκός (optikós, “of or for sight”), from ὀπτός (optós, “visible”) +‎ -ῐκός (-ikós, “-ic”, adjectival suffix).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɒp.tɪk/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɑp.tɪk/
• Rhymes: -ɒptɪk

optic (not comparable)

1. (relational) Of, or relating to the eye or to vision.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. , London: [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker ; nd by Robert Boulter ; nd Matthias Walker, , →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: , London: Basil Montagu Pickering , 1873, →OCLC:

     The moon, whose orb / Through optic glass the Tuscan artist views.

2. (optics, relational) Of, or relating to optics or optical instruments.

optic (plural optics)

1. (archaic, humorous) An eye.
   • 1734, Alexander Pope, Of the Knowledge and Characters of Men: An Epistle to the Right Honourable Richard Lord Viscount Cobham:

     The difference is as great between / The optics seeing, as the object seen.

   • 1819, Lord Byron, “Canto 1”, in Don Juan, section 46:

     how they, / Who saw those figures on the margin kiss all, / Could turn their optics to the text and pray, / Is more than I know […]

   • 1907 August, Robert W Chambers, chapter 8, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

     Elbows almost touching they leaned at ease, idly reading the almost obliterated lines engraved there. ¶ "I never understood it," she observed, lightly scornful. "What occult meaning has a sun-dial for the spooney? I'm sure I don't want to read riddles in a strange gentleman's optics."

2. (optics) A lens or other part of an optical instrument that interacts with light.
   • 2013, Fenella Saunders, “Tiny Lenses See the Big Picture”, in American Scientist‎, volume 101, number 4, →DOI, page 270:

     The single-imaging optic of the mammalian eye offers some distinct visual advantages. Such lenses can take in photons from a wide range of angles, increasing light sensitivity. They also have high spatial resolution, resolving incoming images in minute detail.

3. (trademark in UK) A measuring device with a small window, attached to an upside-down bottle, used to dispense alcoholic drinks in a bar.
   • 2014, M. P. Wright, Heartman:

     They were neatly lined up on three shelves between the optics of martini, vodka, whisky and gin.

   • 2018, Denise Mina, Exile:

     They pulled up two bar stools and looked around the room as the barman relieved the whisky optic of its contents.

• optic stand

• “optic”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “optic”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

• Alcoholic spirits measure on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “optic”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “optic”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “optic”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

• -topic, cop it, picot, topic

Borrowed from French optique.

optic m or n (feminine singular optică, masculine plural optici, feminine and neuter plural optice)

1. optic