1. A description of a tube of mirrors containing loose colored beads, or pieces of glass, etc. which can be rotated to produce a succession of symmetrically designed designs: Erin was able to kaleidoscopically construct a large device that let people look into one end of a tube and see the colorful patterns that resulted from the pieces of glass that were in the cylinder.
2. Etymology: derived from the Ancient Greek kalos, "beautiful, beauty" + eidos, "the form or shape that is seen" + skope?, "to look to, to examine" resulting in "an observer of beautiful forms".