A sudden, usually temporary increase in number or quantity: The baby boom created a bulge in school enrollment. v. bulged, bulgÂ·ing, bulgÂ·es. v.intr. To swell, protrude, or curve outward: a wall bulging after a flood; muscles bulging under a shirt. v.tr. To cause to bulge. [Middle English, pouch, from Old French bulge, bouge, from Latin bulga, bag, of Celtic origin; see bhelgh-in Indo-European roots.] bulgâ²iÂ·ness n. bulgâ²y adj. Synonyms: bulge, balloon, belly, jut, project, protrude These verbs mean to curve, spread, or extend outward past the normal or usual limit: a wallet bulging with money; a clown's pants that ballooned at the waist; a sail bellying in the wind; a boulder jutting from the hillside; a deck that projected from the house in back; eyes protruding from ...
One of the key components of the optical system of many compound microscopes is a condenser. A condenser is a lens that serves to concentrate light from the illumination source that is in turn focused through the object and magnified by the objective lens. It is a basic component of almost all compound light microscopes manufactured since the 19th Century.
A condenser between the stage and mirror of a vintage microscope. Condensers are located above the light source and under the sample in an upright microscope, and above the stage and below the light source in an inverted microscope. They act to gather light from the microscope's light source and concentrate it into a cone of light that illuminates the specimen.