Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Perspective?

\Per*spec"tive\, a. [L. perspicere, perspectum, to look through; per + spicere, specere, to look: cf. F. perspectif; or from E. perspective, n. See {Spy}, n.] 1. Of or pertaining to the science of vision; optical. [Obs.] --Bacon. 2. Pertaining to the art, or in accordance with the laws, of perspective. {Perspective plane}, the plane or surface on which the objects are delineated, or the picture drawn; the plane of projection; -- distinguished from the ground plane, which is that on which the objects are represented as standing. When this plane is oblique to the principal face of the object, the perspective is called oblique perspective; when parallel to that face, parallel perspective. {Perspective shell} (Zo["o]l.), any shell of the genus {Solarium} and allied genera. See {Solarium}.
\Per*spec"tive\, n. [F. perspective, fr. perspectif: cf. It. perspettiva. See {Perspective}, a.] 1. A glass through which objects are viewed. [Obs.] ``Not a perspective, but a mirror.'' --Sir T. Browne. 2. That which is seen through an opening; a view; a vista. ``The perspective of life.'' --Goldsmith. 3. The effect of distance upon the appearance of objects, by means of which the eye recognized them as being at a more or less measurable distance. Hence, a["e]rial perspective, the assumed greater vagueness or uncertainty of outline in distant objects. A["e]rial perspective is the expression of space by any means whatsoever, sharpness of edge, vividness of color, etc. --Ruskin. 4. The art and the science of so delineating objects that they shall seem to grow smaller as they recede from the eye; -- called also {linear perspective}. 5. A drawing in linear perspective. {Isometrical perspective}, an inaccurate term for a mechanical way of representing objects in the direction of the diagonal of a cube. {Perspective glass}, a telescope which shows objects in the right position.