Search the Dictionary

One who, or that which, reflects. Boyle.

s; produced by reflection. Catoptric light, a light in which the rays are concentrated by reflectors into a beam visible at a distance.

t, or Flashing light, a kind of light shown by lighthouses, produced by the revolution of reflectors, so as to show a flash of light every few seconds, alternating with periods of dimness. Knight. -- Flash in the pan, the flashing of the priming in the pan of a flintlock musket without discharging the piece; hence, su…

mirror in the axis of this telescope, having its focus coincident with that of the large reflector, transmits the light received from the latter back through a hole in its center to the eyepiece placed behind it. -- Gregorian year, the year as now reckoned according to the Gregorian calendar. Thus, every year, of the…

That which hastens; especially, a stand or reflector used for confining the heat of the fire to meat while roasting before it.

A light, with a powerful reflector, placed at the head of a locomotive, or in front of it, to throw light on the track at night, or in going through a dark tunnel.

Causing no loss of light; -- applied to reflectors which throw back the rays of light without perceptible loss.

A lamp with lenses or reflectors to collect the rays of light and throw them in a given direction; -- used in lighthouses.

ficial horizon, a level mirror, as the surface of mercury in a shallow vessel, or a plane reflector adjusted to the true level artificially; -- used chiefly with the sextant for observing the double altitude of a celestial body. -- Celestial horizon. (Astron.) See def. 2, above. -- Dip of the horizon (Astron.), the v…

A condenser or reflector of light in optical apparatus; also, an illuminant.

ttached to the object-glass end of a microscope, to throw down light on opaque objects; a reflector.

n instrument for determining the size or distance of inaccessible objects by means of two reflectors on a common sextant.

rement of angles in optical experiments. -- Optical square, a surveyor's instrument with reflectors for laying off right angles.

A reflector of polished metal, especially one used in reflecting telescopes. See Speculum metal, below.