bifocals

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.

Definitions

  1. Spectacles that have corrective lenses of two different powers

    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.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for bifocals. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA