Tuesday, September 18, 2012

word of the day: loupe

The word of the day is loupe:

Etymology:  French: compare loop n.4
 
A small magnifier used by a watchmaker or jeweller. (OED)


"Morgan set himself up at the fly room's central desk.  Cockroaches scuttled through his drawers, nibbling rotten fruit, and the room was a cacophony of buzzing, but Morgan stood unperturbed in the middle of all, peering through a jeweler's loupe, scrutinizing bottle after bottle for de Vries's mutants.""

 - Sam Kean, The Violinist's Thumb and Other Lost Tales of Love, War, and Genius, as Written by our Genetic Code

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