Kaleidoscope Definition
kə-līdə-skōp
noun
A tubular device containing loose bits of colored glass, plastic, etc. reflected by mirrors so that various symmetrical patterns appear when the tube is held to the eye and rotated.
Webster's New World
Anything that constantly changes, as in color and pattern.
Webster's New World
A series of changing phases or events.
A kaleidoscope of illusions.
American Heritage
verb
(intransitive) To move in shifting patterns.
Wiktionary
Other Word Forms of Kaleidoscope
Noun
Singular:
kaleidoscope
Plural:
kaleidoscopesOrigin of Kaleidoscope
From Ancient Greek καλός (kalos, “beautiful”) + εἶδος (eidos, “shape”) (compare -oid) + -scope. Coined 1817, by David Brewster, its inventor.
From Wiktionary
Figurative sense of “constantly changing pattern” attested 1819 by Lord Byron, who had received a kaleidoscope from his publisher.
From Wiktionary
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Greek kalos beautiful eidos form weid- in Indo-European roots –scope
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
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