REFLECTIONS
Noun
reflections
plural of reflection
Source: Wiktionary
REFLECTION
Re*flec"tion (r*flk"shn), n. Etym: [L. reflexio: cf. F. réflexion.
See Riflect.] [Written also reflexion.]
1. The act of reflecting, or turning or sending back, or the state of
being reflected. Specifically:
(a) The return of rays, beams, sound, or the like, from a surface.
See Angle of reflection, below.
The eye sees not itself, But by reflection, by some other things.
Shak.
(b) The reverting of the mind to that which has already occupied it;
continued consideration; meditation; contemplation; hence, also, that
operation or power of the mind by which it is conscious of its own
acts or states; the capacity for judging rationally, especially in
view of a moral rule or standard.
By reflection, . . . I would be understood to mean, that notice which
the mind takes of its own operations, and the manner of them, by
reason whereof there come to be ideas of these operations in the
understanding. Locke.
This delight grows and improves under thought and reflection. South.
2. Shining; brightness, as of the sun. [Obs.] Shak.
3. That which is produced by reflection. Specifically:
(a) An image given back from a reflecting surface; a reflected
counterpart.
As the sun water we can bear, Yet not the sun, but his reflection,
there. Dryden.
(b) A part reflected, or turned back, at an angle; as, the reflection
of a membrane.
(c) Result of meditation; thought or opinion after attentive
consideration or contemplation; especially, thoughts suggested by
truth.
Job's reflections on his once flourishing estate did at the same time
afflict and encourage him. Atterbury.
4. Censure; reproach cast.
He died; and oh! may no reflection shed Its poisonous venom on the
royal dead. Prior.
5. (Physiol.)
Definition: The transference of an excitement from one nerve fiber to
another by means of the nerve cells, as in reflex action. See Reflex
action, under Reflex. Angle of reflection, the angle which anything,
as a ray of light, on leaving a reflecting surface, makes with the
perpendicular to the surface.
– Angle of total reflection. (Opt.) Same as Critical angle, under
Critical.
Syn.
– Meditation; contemplation; rumination; cogitation; consideration;
musing; thinking.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition