• (RP) IPA: /ˈɒptɪk/
• (GA) IPA: /ˈɑptɪk/

optic (not comparable)

1. Of, or relating to the eye or to vision.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book 1”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […] [a]nd by Robert Boulter […] [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], OCLC 228722708 ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: The Text Exactly Reproduced from the First Edition of 1667: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554 ↗:

     The moon, whose orb / Through optic glass the Tuscan artist views.

2. Of, or relating to optics or optical instruments.

• German: optisch
• Portuguese: óptico, ótico (Brazil)
• Russian: оптический
• Spanish: óptico

• German: optisch
• Portuguese: óptico, ótico (Brazil)
• Russian: оптический
• Spanish: óptico

optic (plural optics)

1. (now humorous) An eye.
   • 1734', Alexander Pope, Of the Knowledge and Characters of Men

     The difference is as great between / The optics seeing, as the object seen.

   • 1819, Lord Byron, Don Juan, I:

     how they, / Who saw those figures on the margin kiss all, / Could turn their optics to the text and pray, / Is more than I know […]

   • 1907, Robert William Chambers, chapter VIII, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 24962326 ↗:

     Elbows almost touching they leaned at ease, idly reading the almost obliterated lines engraved there. ¶ "I never understood it," she observed, lightly scornful. "What occult meaning has a sun-dial for the spooney? I'm sure I don't want to read riddles in a strange gentleman's optics."

2. A lens or other part of an optical instrument that interacts with light.
3. A measuring device with a small window, attached to an upside-down bottle, used to dispense alcoholic drinks in a bar.

• Italian: occhio

• optics
• optical