the.com/magnifying glass

means A single convex lens held at a short distance from an object to produce an enlarged image of it, used for close inspection of small details.

from The device is straightforward engineering — a curved piece of glass that bends light to magnify — but its name comes from the Latin magnificare, 'to make great or exalt,' built from magnus ('great') plus facere ('to make'). The word traveled through magnify in English, which first meant to glorify or praise before it settled into its literal optical sense of 'to make something appear larger.' So the glass doesn't actually make anything bigger — it just bends light so your eye is fooled into seeing it that way, a trick wearing the old language of exaltation.