Definition of "oculus" []

• Architecture An eyelike opening or ornament, especially: (noun)
• A round window. (noun)
• A circular opening at the apex of a dome. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Skidmore, Owings & Merrill/John Blaustein An almond-shaped skylight or "oculus" is at the top of the building, through which sunlight shines in different patterns throughout the day."
• ""oculus" was sometimes applied to things that were seen to resemble eyes, and one such thing was the bud of a plant."
• "I evoked the oculus in the coffered dome, an engineering feat as well as a symbolic gesture of colossal proportions."