bifocals
nounEtymology From bi- + focal (see focus), coined in 1824 by John Isaac Hawkins, inventor of trifocals. When the concept of bifocals was originally conceived by Benjamin Franklin, he called them double spectacles.
1
Spectacles that have corrective lenses of two different powers; used by people who need both distance and reading glasses.
- He unfolded a pair of bifocals and thrust them as far up the bridge of his nose as possible.2002, Zadie Smith, The Autograph Man, Penguin Books (2003), page 116:
- Derived terms
- bifocaled
- Related terms
- bifocal, multifocals, trifocals