a microscope equipped with a prism or mirror to project a greatly magnified image of a microscopic slide onto a distant screen
Word origin
[1930–35; micro- + projector]This word is first recorded in the period 1930–35. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: boondoggle, kickback, logical positivism, old school tie, uncertainty principlemicro- is a combining form with the meanings “small” (microcosm; microgamete), “very small in comparison with others of its kind” (microcomputer; microlith), “too small to be seen by the unaided eye” (microfossil; microorganism), “dealing with extremely minute organisms, organic structures, or quantities ofa substance” (microdissection; microscope), “localized, restricted in scope or area” (microburst; microhabitat), “(of a discipline) focusing on a restricted area” (microeconomics), “containing or dealing with texts that require enlargement to be read” (microfilm; microreader), “one millionth” (microgram)