■ noun an optical instrument designed to make distant objects appear nearer, containing an arrangement of lenses, or of curved mirrors and lenses, by which rays of light are collected and focused and the resulting image magnified.
■ verb
1》 (with reference to an object made of concentric tubular parts) slide or cause to slide into itself, so that it becomes smaller.
↘crush (a vehicle) by the force of an impact.
2》 condense or conflate so as to occupy less space or time.
Derivatives
telescopic adjective
telescopically adverb