Achromatic

2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Achromatic \Ach`ro*mat"ic\, a. [Gr. 'achrw`matos colorless; 'a
     priv. + chrw^ma, chrw`matos, color: cf. F. achromatique.]
     1. (Opt.) Free from color; transmitting light without
        decomposing it into its primary colors.
        [1913 Webster]
  


     2. (Biol.) Uncolored; not absorbing color from a fluid; --
        said of tissue.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Achromatic lens} (Opt.), a lens composed usually of two
        separate lenses, a convex and concave, of substances
        having different refractive and dispersive powers, as
        crown and flint glass, with the curvatures so adjusted
        that the chromatic aberration produced by the one is
        corrected by other, and light emerges from the compound
        lens undecomposed.
  
     {Achromatic prism}. See {Prism}.
  
     {Achromatic telescope}, or {microscope}, one in which the
        chromatic aberration is corrected, usually by means of a
        compound or achromatic object glass, and which gives
        images free from extraneous color.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  achromatic
       adj 1: being of the achromatic color of maximum lightness; having
              little or no hue owing to reflection of almost all
              incident light; "as white as fresh snow"; "a bride's
              white dress" [syn: {white}] [ant: {black}]
       2: being of the achromatic color of maximum darkness; having
          little or no hue owing to absorption of almost all
          incident light; "black leather jackets"; "as black as
          coal"; "rich black soil" [syn: {black}] [ant: {white}]
       3: having no hue [ant: {chromatic}]