quizzing glassn.
/ˈkwɪzɪŋ ˌɡlɑːs/, /ˈkwɪzɪŋ ˌɡlas/, U.S. /ˈkwɪzɪŋ ˌɡlæs/ Now historical.
A single eyeglass, with or without an attached handle; a monocle. Cf. quizzer n.1
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the world > health and disease > healing > ophthalmology or optometry > aids to defective vision > [noun] > eye-glass or monocle
eyeglass1593
glass eye1721
quizzing glass1800
quizzer1806
ogling-glass1843
monocle1873
monoculus1892
window1896
Piccadilly window1897
windowpane1923
1800 Oracle & Daily Advertiser 31 Dec. Sometimes I am fashionably near-sighted; and the black ribbon of my pendant quizzing glass contrasts the white of my high cravat.
1822 J. Goldie Poems 86 With my quizzing glass so fine, Hair frizzl'd up behind.
1841 S. Warren Ten Thousand a Year II. vi. 142 A quizzing-glass was stuck in his right eye.
1885 J. Payn Talk of Town I. 152 He wore round his neck what was then called a quizzing-glass, held by the hand.
1938 Amer. Anthropologist 40 507 Some critics may say that the work is not dynamic; the people studied do not really live; they are merely observed through the ethnological quizzing glass.
1968 J. Ironside Fashion Alphabet 121 The quizzing glass was a single eyeglass on a handle.
1984 J. Nunn Fashion in Costume 128 As the snuff-box passed out of use, beaux or dandies affected the quizzing glass; the most popular type was rectangular, about 2 x 1 inches, with a handle.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1800