Named after squinting — the lorgnette was as much a tool of social condescension as a visual aid in 19th-century salons.
A pair of spectacles or opera glasses held to the eyes by a long handle at one side.
From French lorgnette, diminutive of lorgne meaning squinting, from lorgner meaning to ogle or peer at Key roots: lorgne (Old French: "squinting, cross-eyed").
The lorgnette was a social weapon as much as a visual aid. In 19th-century high society, raising one's lorgnette to inspect another person was a deliberate act of condescension — the gesture said "you are worth examining" while simultaneously establishing the holder's superior status.