A device for assisting defective eyesight, or for protecting the eyes from dust, light, etc., consisting of two glass lenses set in a frame which…

a pair of spectacles. †Also without of.

Spectacles.

colloquial in plural = spectacle, n.1 6a.

A pair of spectacles. Cf. glass eye, n. 1a. In later use only in plural. Obsolete.

spectacles.

An eye-glass; usually plural, spectacles, ‘glasses’. Obsolete.

A telescope or pair of binoculars. In plural: spectacles or binoculars. Cf. perspective, adj. 2. Now historical.

plural. Spectacles. Now dialect.

A device which allows one to see objects or events not immediately present: (a) = prospective glass, n. 1; (b) = prospective glass, n. 2. Obsolete.

eyeglasses.

An optical instrument used as an aid to sight. An eyeglass (eyeglass, n.); (also in plural) spectacles.

plural. Spectacles. Obsolete.

slang. In plural. A pair of spectacles. Now rare.

A pair of such lenses (sometimes more fully double eyeglass). Also (in later use more commonly): a single lens having the same purpose, a quizzing…

Spectacles for the eyes.

transferred. Spectacles rare.

plural. Spectacles. slang.

a kind of spectacles; (perhaps) pince-nez.

colloquial or slang. Something which resembles a windowpane. In plural. Spectacles. Also (as a count noun): a monocle; = windowpane, n. 3. Now rare.

plural. Spectacles, eye-glasses. U.S. slang.