The reflex act of the soul, or the turning of the
intellectual eye inward upon its own actions. --Sir
M. Hale.
2. Produced in reaction, in resistance, or in return.
3. (Physiol.) Of, pertaining to, or produced by, stimulus or
excitation without the necessary intervention of
consciousness.
{Reflex action} (Physiol.), any action performed
involuntarily in consequence of an impulse or impression
transmitted along afferent nerves to a nerve center, from
which it is reflected to an efferent nerve, and so calls
into action certain muscles, organs, or cells.
{Reflex nerve} (Physiol.), an excito-motory nerve. See
{Exito-motory}.
Yon gray is not the morning's eye, 'Tis but the pale
reflex of Cynthia's brow. --Shak.
On the depths of death there swims The reflex of a
human face. --Tennyson.
2. (Physiol.) An involuntary movement produced by reflex
action.
{Patellar reflex}. See {Knee jerk}, under {Knee}.
2. To bend back; to turn back. --J. Gregory.