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Given to reflection or serious consideration; reflective; contemplative; as, a reflecting mind. Reflecting circle, an astronomical instrument for measuring angless, like the sextant or Hadley's quadrant, by the reflection of light from two plane mirrors which it carries, and differing from the sextant chiefly in having…

With reflection; also, with censure; reproachfully. Swift.

Inattention to things present; abstraction (of mind); as, absence of mind. "Reflecting on the little absences and distractions of mankind." Addison. To conquer that abstraction which is called absence. Landor.

Reflecting of reflected; as, an anacamptic sound (and echo).

The chrysalis, or pupa of an insect, esp. when reflecting a brilliant golden color, as that of some of the butterflies.

Destitute of light, or incapable of reflecting it; of the color of soot or coal; of the darkest or a very dark color, the opposite of white; characterized by such a color; as, black cloth; black hair or eyes. O night, with hue so black! Shak.

borhood road. Carlton. In a blaze, on fire; burning with a flame; filled with, giving, or reflecting light; excited or exasperated. -- Like blazes, furiously; rapidly. [Low] "The horses did along like blazes tear." Poem in Essex dialect.

Radiating or reflecting light; shedding or having much light; shining; luminous; not dark. The sun was bright o'erhead. Longfellow. The earth was dark, but the heavens were bright. Drake. The public places were as bright as at noonday. Macaulay.

A reflecting optical glass or instrument; a mirror. [Obs.]

rve to which the ray of light, reflected or refracted by another curve, are tangents, the reflecting or refracting curve and the luminous point being in one plane. -- Caustic lime. See under Lime. -- Caustic potash, Caustic soda (Chem.), the solid hydroxides potash, KOH, and soda, NaOH, or solutions of the same. --…

A reflecting telescope, part of which is made to rotate eccentrically, so as to produce a ringlike image of a star, instead of a point; -- used in studying the scintillation of the stars.

Destitute, or partially destitute, of light; not receiving, reflecting, or radiating light; wholly or partially black, or of some deep shade of color; not light-colored; as, a dark room; a dark day; dark cloth; dark paint; a dark complexion. O dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon, Irrecoverable dark, total eclipse…

Without distinct thought; unreflecting; thoughtless; heedless. "The dizzy multitude." Milton.

A kind of reflecting microscope. [Obs.]

Mirror-faced; reflecting the sentiments of another. [R.] "The glass-faced flatterer." Shak.

Smooth and shining; reflecting luster from a smooth surface; highly polished; lustrous; as, glossy silk; a glossy surface.

is the center of the graduated circle or semicircle upon which the angle is read off. -- Reflecting goniometer, an instrument for measuring the angles of crystals by determining through what angular space the crystal must be turned so that two rays reflected from two surfaces successively shall have the same direction…

e ancient Greek scales, as Dorian, Lydian, etc. -- Gregorian telescope (Opt.), a form of reflecting telescope, named from Prof. James Gregory, of Edinburgh, who perfected it in 1663. A small concave mirror in the axis of this telescope, having its focus coincident with that of the large reflector, transmits the light…

Falling or striking upon, as a ray of light upon a reflecting surface.

An instrument invented by Professor Wheatstone, consisting of a reflecting knob at the end of a vibrating rod or thin plate, for making visible, in the motion of a point of light reflected from the knob, the paths or curves corresponding with the musical notes produced by the vibrations.