Meanings
plural opeidoscopes
- An instrument, consisting of a tube with one end open and the other end covered with a thin flexible membrane with a mirror attached to its centre, used for exhibiting upon a screen, by means of rays reflected from the mirror, the vibratory motions caused by sounds that enter the tube.
I can't help thinking that, had he lived to see the electronic cricket sensor, the inventor of the opeidoscope probably would have approved.
2009, May Berenbaum, The Earwig's Tail: A Modern Bestiary of Multi-legged Legends2 more examples
Among many experiments in transmitting speech I tried that of a conical point of iron fastened to the middle of an opeidoscope membrane, the point being attached to a fine wire in such a manner as not to interfere with its freedom of movement […]
1878, George Bartlett Prescott, The Speaking Telephone, Talking Phonograph, and Other NoveltiesThis is a modification of the opeidoscope. A thin membrane of goldbeater's skin or rubber is stretched over a wooden or metallic cell and secured by a winding of thread. To the center of the membrane is cemented a small thin mirror.
1902, George Milton Hopkins, Experimental science
Origin
Coined by its inventor Amos Dolbear, from Ancient Greek roots.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
opeidoscope. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/opeidoscope
“opeidoscope.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/opeidoscope. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “opeidoscope,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/opeidoscope.
Source: opeidoscope on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.