Hypertext Webster Gateway: "reflect"

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Reflect \Re*flect"\ (r?*fl?kt"), v. t. [imp. & p. p.
{Reflected}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Reflecting}.] [L. reflectere,
reflexum; pref. re- re- + flectere to bend or turn. See
{Flexible}, and cf. {Reflex}, v.]
1. To bend back; to give a backwa?d turn to; to throw back;
especially, to cause to return after striking upon any
surface; as, a mirror reflects rays of light; polished
metals reflect heat.

Let me mind the reader to reflect his eye on our
quotations. --Fuller.

Bodies close together reflect their own color.
--Dryden.

2. To give back an image or likeness of; to mirror.

Nature is the glass reflecting God, As by the sea
reflected is the sun. --Young.

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Reflect \Re*flect"\ v. i.
1. To throw back light, heat, or the like; to return rays or
beams.

2. To be sent back; to rebound as from a surface; to revert;
to return.

Whose virtues will, I hope, Reflect on Rome, as
Titan's rays on earth. --Shak.

3. To throw or turn back the thoughts upon anything; to
contemplate. Specifically: To attend earnestly to what
passes within the mind; to attend to the facts or
phenomena of consciousness; to use attention or earnest
thought; to meditate; especially, to think in relation to
moral truth or rules.

We can not be said to reflect upon any external
object, except so far as that object has been
previously perceived, and its image become part and
parcel of our intellectual furniture. --Sir W.
Hamilton.

All men are concious of the operations of their own
minds, at all times, while they are awake, but there
few who reflect upon them, or make them objects of
thought. --Reid.

As I much reflected, much I mourned. --Prior.

4. To cast reproach; to cause censure or dishonor.

Errors of wives reflect on husbands still. --Dryden.

Neither do I reflect in the least upon the memory of
his late majesty. --Swift.

Syn: To consider; think; cogitate; mediate; contemplate;
ponder; muse; ruminate.

From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)

reflect
v 1: manifest or bring back; "This action reflects his true
beliefs"
2: to throw or bend back (from a surface); "A mirror in the sun
can reflect light into a person's eyes"; "Sound is
reflected well in this auditorium"
3: reflect deeply on a subject; "I mulled over the events of
the afternoon"; "philosophers have speculated on the
question of God for thousands of years"; "The scientist
must stop to observe and start to excogitate" [syn: {chew
over}, {think over}, {meditate}, {ponder}, {excogotate}, {contemplate},
{muse}, {mull}, {mull over}, {ruminate}, {speculate}]
4: be bright by reflecting or casting light; "Drive
carefully--the wet road reflects" [syn: {shine}]
5: give evidence that someone has acted in a certain way; "His
lack of interest in the project reflects badly on him"
6: give evidence of the quality of; "The mess in his dorm room
reflects on the student"


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