Skip to content
ontologydriven
Sign out

Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

bifocals en · NOUN

Etymology

From bi- + focal (see focus), coined in 1824 by John Isaac Hawkins, inventor of trifocals. When the concept of bifocals was originally conceived by Benjamin Franklin, he called them double spectacles.

Meanings

  1. (plural, plural-only) Spectacles that have corrective lenses of two different powers; used by people who need both distance and reading glasses.
    • He unfolded a pair of bifocals and thrust them as far up the bridge of his nose as possible. 2002, Zadie Smith, The Autograph Man, Penguin Books (2003), page 116:

Deriveds

bifocaled

Relateds

trifocals · bifocal · multifocals

Translations (8)

pl okulary dwuogniskowe (spectacles with two different powers) · de Zweistärkenbrille (spectacles with two different powers) · fi kaksiteholasit (spectacles with two different powers) · fr verres bifocaux (spectacles with two different powers) · de Bifokalbrille (spectacles with two different powers) · fr verres double foyer (spectacles with two different powers) · cmn 雙光眼鏡 /双光眼镜 (spectacles with two different powers) · nv nákʼee sinilí naakijįʼ bee hootʼínígíí (spectacles with two different powers)