EYEPIECE n.
The lens, or combination of lenses, at the eye end of a telescope or other optical instrument, through which the image formed by the mirror or object glass is viewed. Collimating eyepiece. See under Collimate. -- Negative, or Huyghenian, eyepiece, an eyepiece consisting of two plano-convex lenses with their curved sur…
FACTION n.
nment, or state; -- usually applied to a minority, but it may be applied to a majority; a combination or clique of partisans of any kind, acting for their own interests, especially if greedy, clamorous, and reckless of the common good.
FLOWER n.
stined to produce seed, and hence including one or both of the sexual organs; an organ or combination of the organs of reproduction, whether inclosed by a circle of foliar parts or not. A complete flower consists of two essential parts, the stamens and the pistil, and two floral envelopes, the corolla and callyx. In mo…
HALOGEN n.
An electro-negative element or radical, which, by combination with a metal, forms a haloid salt; especially, chlorine, bromine, and iodine; sometimes, also, fluorine and cyanogen. See Chlorine family, under Chlorine.
HEAT n.
vaporation, and which, as manifested in fire, the sun's rays, mechanical action, chemical combination, etc., becomes directly known to us through the sense of feeling. In its nature heat is a mode if motion, being in general a form of molecular disturbance or vibration. It was formerly supposed to be a subtile, imponde…
HOOP n.
A circle, or combination of circles, of thin whalebone, metal, or other elastic material, used for expanding the skirts of ladies' dresses; crinoline; -- used chiefly in the plural. Though stiff with hoops, and armed with ribs of whale. Pope.