focus
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈfəʊ.kəs/
ipa: /ˈfoʊ.kəs/
rhymes: -əʊkəs
Forms: form: focuses
form: focusses
form: focusing
form: focussing
form: focused
form: focused
form: focussed
form: focussed
Etymology: Borrowed from Latin focus (“hearth, fireplace”); see there for more. Doublet of fuel.
Kepler introduced the term into mathematics and the sciences in describing elliptical orbits of planets (quote from Nicholas Mee) :
"One of the interesting properties of an ellipse is that if there were a light bulb at one focus, then all the light that it emits would reflect off the ellipse and converge at the other focus. This is why Kepler originally used the name focus for these points."
Senses: examples: text: The difficulties of focussing colour-light signals on curved tracks to ensure maximum sighting distance were underlined in the recent official report [...] on a low-speed collision at Newcastle Central on July 25, 1960, between an unfitted freight and a diesel-hauled passenger train.
ref: 1961 February, “Talking of Trains: Collision at Newcastle”, in Trains Illustrated, pages 75–76:
glosses: To cause (rays of light, etc) to converge at a single point.
examples: text: You'll need to focus the microscope carefully in order to capture the full detail of this surface.
topics: engineering
natural-sciences
optics
physical-sciences
physics
glosses: To adjust (a lens, an optical instrument) in order to position an image with respect to the focal plane.
examples: text: I can't get the lens to focus.
text: The camera focuses automatically on the subject's eyes.
topics: engineering
natural-sciences
optics
physical-sciences
physics
qualifier: optical instrument
glosses: To adjust itself or be adjusted such that light from a scene converges appropriately to create a clear image.
raw_tags: of a lens
examples: text: The president focused her remarks on the newcomers.
glosses: To direct attention, effort, or energy to a particular audience or task.
examples: text: If you're going to beat your competitors, you need to focus.
glosses: To concentrate one’s attention.
examples: text: I have to focus on my work.
glosses: To concentrate one's attention on something; to have as one's central point of interest, concern, etc.
raw_tags: followed by on or upon
examples: text: The text box won't receive the user's keystrokes unless you explicitly focus it.
topics: computing
engineering
graphical-user-interface
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: To transfer the input focus to (a visual element), so that it receives subsequent input.
examples: text: Whole pages of it are filled with masses of figures, generally single numbers added up in batches, and then the totals added in batches again, as though he were "focusing" some account, as the auditors put it.
ref: 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, published 1993, page 67:
topics: accounting
business
finance
qualifier: formerly
glosses: To aggregate figures of accounts.
Synonyms: word: adhere
word: align
word: anchor
word: apply
word: attend
word: base
word: center
word: centre
word: concentrate
word: direct
word: engage
word: fixate
word: hone
word: point
Hypernyms: word: order
Derived terms: cryofocus
defocus
focusability
focusable
focuser
focus pocus
focusser
hydrofocus
hyperfocus
immunofocus
microfocus
misfocus
overfocus
prefocus
refocus
retrofocus
unfocus
Related terms: focal