camera obscura

noun

1. a darkened boxlike device in which images of external objects, received through an aperture, as with a convex lens, are exhibited in their natural colors on a surface arranged to receive them: used for sketching, exhibition purposes, etc.

noun

1. a darkened chamber or small building in which images of outside objects are projected onto a flat surface by a convex lens in an apertureSometimes shortened to: camera

n.

1725, “a darkened room;” c.1730, “a device for project pictures;” see camera.