lorgnette

[ lawrn-yet ]

noun

1. a pair of eyeglasses mounted on a handle.
2. a pair of opera glasses mounted on a handle.

lorgnette

/ lɔːˈnjɛt /

noun

1. a pair of spectacles or opera glasses mounted on a handle

Word History and Origins

Origin of lorgnette¹

1795–1805; < French, derivative of lorgner to eye furtively; -ette

Word History and Origins

Origin of lorgnette¹

C19: from French, from lorgner to squint, from Old French lorgne squinting

Example Sentences

He held a pair of tortoiseshell lorgnette glasses to his eyes, to get a better look at the flames climbing the building’s walls.

From Literature

“Something new, Edna?” exclaimed Miss Mayblunt, with lorgnette directed toward a magnificent cluster of diamonds that sparkled, that almost sputtered, in Edna’s hair, just over the center of her forehead.

From Literature

A lyrical aesthete and a Flaubertian prose polisher, he is pictured, in “Lucky Per,” as the sickly poet Enevoldsen, fussing with his lorgnette at a Copenhagen café while worrying about “where to put a comma.”

From The New Yorker

Also drawing the eye: a smart navy-and-black walking suit; a fan so ethereal the flowers on it seemed to be levitating; and a high-collared black opera cape, clearly intended to be worn with a lorgnette and an above-it-all attitude.

From Seattle Times

One hand carried a gigantic bag, the kind that holds passports, engagement diaries, and bridge scores, while the other hand toyed with that inevitable lorgnette, the enemy to other people’s privacy.

From Literature

Related Words

• specs
• sunglasses