focusses

1. 1
   verbBritish

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of focus. Chiefly British spelling; American English uses focuses.

   The new manager focusses her team on a single quarterly goal.

   When the lens focusses properly, the image becomes sharp.

   Note

   A British spelling that doubles the s before the ending. The same string also serves as the noun plural. As a verb it works both ways. It is transitive when someone focusses a lens, rays of light, or a team's energy. It is intransitive when a lens focusses by itself or a person focusses on a task, with on marking where attention settles.

2. 2
   nounBritish

   Plural of focus. Chiefly British spelling; American English uses focuses.

   The conference covered three distinct focusses over its two days.

   Different chapters of the book pursue separate focusses.

   Note

   The doubled-s plural has a long run in British print. John Floyer used it in 1726 for the points where putrefaction begins, and William Enfield in 1809 for the two points of an ellipse. Later writers stretch it to abstract centers of interest, as in Guy Aston's 1988 account of Goffman's "two rather different focusses." In the same sentence Floyer also writes Focus's, a sign the plural was once unsettled.

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