Search Result for "prism": 
Wordnet 3.0

NOUN (2)

1. a polyhedron with two congruent and parallel faces (the bases) and whose lateral faces are parallelograms;

2. optical device having a triangular shape and made of glass or quartz; used to deviate a beam or invert an image;
[syn: prism, optical prism]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Prism \Prism\ (pr[i^]z'm), n. [L. prisma, Gr. pri`sma, fr. pri`zein, pri`ein, to saw: cf. F. prisme.] 1. (Geom.) A solid whose bases or ends are any similar, equal, and parallel plane figures, and whose sides are parallelograms. [1913 Webster] Note: Prisms of different forms are often named from the figure of their bases; as, a triangular prism, a quadrangular prism, a rhombic prism, etc. [1913 Webster] 2. (Opt.) A transparent body, with usually three rectangular plane faces or sides, and two equal and parallel triangular ends or bases; -- used in experiments on refraction, dispersion, etc. [1913 Webster] 3. (Crystallog.) A form the planes of which are parallel to the vertical axis. See Form, n., 13. [1913 Webster] Achromatic prism (Opt.), a prism composed usually of two prisms of different transparent substances which have unequal dispersive powers, as two different kinds of glass, especially flint glass and crown glass, the difference of dispersive power being compensated by giving them different refracting angles, so that, when placed together so as to have opposite relative positions, a ray of light passed through them is refracted or bent into a new position, but is free from color. Nicol's prism, Nicol prism. [So called from Wm. Nicol, of Edinburgh, who first proposed it.] (Opt.) An instrument for experiments in polarization, consisting of a rhomb of Iceland spar, which has been bisected obliquely at a certain angle, and the two parts again joined with transparent cement, so that the ordinary image produced by double refraction is thrown out of the field by total reflection from the internal cemented surface, and the extraordinary, or polarized, image alone is transmitted. [1913 Webster] Prismatic
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

prism n 1: a polyhedron with two congruent and parallel faces (the bases) and whose lateral faces are parallelograms 2: optical device having a triangular shape and made of glass or quartz; used to deviate a beam or invert an image [syn: prism, optical prism]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

27 Moby Thesaurus words for "prism": achromatic lens, astigmatic lens, burning glass, camera, coated lens, concave lens, concavo-convex lens, condenser, convex lens, eyeglass, eyepiece, glass, hand lens, lens, magnifier, magnifying glass, meniscus, object glass, objective, objective prism, ocular, reader, reading glass, telephoto lens, toric lens, varifocal lens, zoom lens
V.E.R.A. -- Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms (February 2016):

PRISM Parallel Reduced Instruction Set Multiprocessing
V.E.R.A. -- Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms (February 2016):

PRISM Portable, Reusable, Integrated Software Modules
V.E.R.A. -- Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms (February 2016):

PRISM PRogrammed Integrated System Maintenance
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):

PRISM A distributed logic language. ["PRISM: A Parallel Inference System for Problem Solving", S. Kasif et al, Proc 1983 Logic Prog Workshop, pp. 123-152].