Re*flect"i*ble (-?*b'l), a. Capable of being reflected, or thrown back;
reflexible.
Re*flect"ing, a. 1. Throwing back light, heat, etc., as a mirror or
other surface.
2. 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 an entire circle. -- Reflecting galvanometer, a
galvanometer in which the deflections of the needle are read by means
of a mirror attached to it, which reflects a ray of light or the image
of a scale; -- called also mirror galvanometer. -- Reflecting
goniometer. See under Goniometer. -- Reflecting telescope. See under
Telescope.
Re*flect"ing*ly, adv. With reflection; also, with censure;
reproachfully. Swift.
Re*flec"tion (r?*fl?k"sh?n), n. [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.