α. In senses A., B. 1 1700s scioptick, 1700s– scioptic.
β. In sense B. 2 1800s– skioptic.
sciopticn.adj.
/svɪˈɒptɪk/, U.S. /saɪˈɑptɪk/ (in sense B. 2)Brit. /skvɪˈɒptɪk/, U.S. /skaɪˈɑptɪk/ = scioptric n. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > optical instruments > instruments for projecting image > [noun] > camera obscura or lucida > parts of
scioptric ball1696
scioptic1710
scioptric?1750
1710 J. Harris Lexicon Technicum II. Index sig. fv Sciopticks.
1738 E. Chambers Cycl. (ed. 2) Scioptick [1728 Scioptrick], a sphere or globe of wood, with a circular hole or perforation wherein a lens is placed.
1874 All about Hard Words 280/2 Scioptic, a sphere, or globe, with the lens made to turn like the eye, for projecting images of external objects on a screen in a darkened chamber.
B. adj.
1. = scioptric adj.
ΚΠ
1749 B. Martin Lingua Britannica Reformata Scioptic ball, a sphere or globe of wood, with a circular hole through it, and a lens placed in it, and so fitted that it may be turned round every way, like the eye of an animal, used in making experiments in a darkened chamber.
1799 W. Jones Adams's Lect. Nat. & Exper. Philos. (ed. 2) II. xv. 194 The scioptic [1794: scioptric] ball..may be considered as a kind of artificial eye.
1833 D. Olmsted Compend. Nat. Philos. vi. iv. 299 The appearance is particularly striking and beautiful when the eye is fixed like the scioptic ball, in the window shutter of a dark room.
1842 W. T. Brande Dict. Sci., Lit. & Art 1089/2 Scioptic or Scioptric Ball.
1914 Sci. Amer. 11 Apr. 816/3 The illusion is intermixed with acting, music, songs, animated scioptic posing effects and a mysterious fading away of the living image and shield.
2. Zoology. Of an animal: able to detect or respond to shade; involving or relating to such a response.
ΚΠ
1894 Jrnl. Royal Microsc. Soc. 441 The critical experiment implies observing that the animal moves on being suddenly shaded or illumined. Animals may be ‘skioptic’, or ‘photoptic’, or ‘photoskioptic’.
1907 Jrnl. Exper. Zool. 5 122 The skioptic response of Bdelloura candida is confined not only to the anterior end but particularly to the region directly including the eyes.
1969 Amer. Zoologist 9 551 Skioptic response and habituation as part of the flapping behavior repertoire of the mollusc.
2009 W. Alexander Sri Lankan Loxodrome 41 I am not speaking of Skioptic response which relates only to ‘light & shade’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1710