Per*spec"tive (?), a. [L.
perspicere, perspectum, to look through; per +
spicere, specere, to look: cf. F. perspectif; or
from E. perspective, n. See Spy, n.]
1. Of or pertaining to the science of vision;
optical. [Obs.] Bacon.
2. Pertaining to the art, or in accordance
with the laws, of perspective.
Perspective plane, the plane or surface on
which the objects are delineated, or the picture drawn; the plane of
projection; -- distinguished from the ground plane, which is
that on which the objects are represented as standing. When this plane
is oblique to the principal face of the object, the perspective is
called oblique perspective; when parallel to that face,
parallel perspective. -- Perspective
shell (Zoöl.), any shell of the genus
Solarium and allied genera. See Solarium.
Per*spec"tive, n. [F.
perspective, fr. perspectif: cf. It. perspettiva.
See Perspective, a.] 1.
A glass through which objects are viewed. [Obs.] "Not a
perspective, but a mirror." Sir T. Browne.
2. That which is seen through an opening; a
view; a vista. "The perspective of life."
Goldsmith.
3. The effect of distance upon the appearance
of objects, by means of which the eye recognized them as being at a
more or less measurable distance. Hence, aërial
perspective, the assumed greater vagueness or uncertainty of
outline in distant objects.
Aërial perspective is the expression of
space by any means whatsoever, sharpness of edge, vividness of color,
etc.
Ruskin.
4. The art and the science of so delineating
objects that they shall seem to grow smaller as they recede from the
eye; -- called also linear perspective.
5. A drawing in linear perspective.
Isometrical perspective, an inaccurate term
for a mechanical way of representing objects in the direction of the
diagonal of a cube. -- Perspective glass, a
telescope which shows objects in the right position.
