eyewear en · NOUN
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₃ekʷ-der. Proto-Germanic *augô Proto-West Germanic *augā Old English ēage Middle English eye English eye Proto-Indo-European *wes- Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti Proto-Indo-European *woséyeti Proto-Germanic *wazjaną Proto-West Germanic *waʀjan Old English werian Middle English weren English wear English -wear English eyewear From eye + -wear.
Meanings
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(uncountable) A vision aid or similar device worn over the eyes, such as eyeglasses, contact lenses, or protective goggles.
ANSI divides sunglasses into three categories: fashion spectacles that shield eyes from only 70% of UV-B and less than 60% of UV-A; everyday eyewear that screens out 95% of UV-B and between 60% and 92% of UV-A; and special-purpose glasses that absorb almost 99% of ultraviolet rays.
1988 July 4, Anastasia Toufexis et al., “Health & Fitness: Do Your Shades Do the Job?”, in Time:Use of safety eyewear by Jones saved his sight when he was holding a chisel, another employe lifted up a hammer to hit the chisel and accidentally struck Jones in the nose and safety glasses.
1974 October 14, “Wise Owl Club inducts two”, in St. Petersburg Times / Manatee Times, retrieved 01 Sep 2010, page 3:American manufacturers are now describing spectacles as "eyewear".
1925, Mark Lemon, Henry Mayhew, Tom Taylor, Shirley Brooks, Sir Francis Cowley Burnand, Sir Owen Seaman, editors, London charivari:When one of the daily robberies ends with him accidentally merking the robber (a real player, which the NPCs aren’t supposed to be able to attack), Guy gets his hands on the victim’s sunglasses—a pair of eyewear that allows him to see, like “Rowdy” Roddy Piper in They Live, the secret messages (and, in this case, powerups and side missions and stats) scattered across his world.
2021 August 6, A. A. Dowd, “The Ryan Reynolds action-comedy Free Guy is a Truman Show for the Fortnite age”, in The A.V. Club: