reflex

plural reflexes

1. An automatic response to a simple stimulus which does not require mental processing.

   For a while, I shall have to make a conscious effort to smile, nod, stand and perform the thousands of little gestures which constitute life on Earth, and then those gestures will become reflexes again.

   1970, Stanisław Lem, trans. Joanna Kilmartin and Steve Cox, Solaris

   1 more example

   He met Luis Suarez's cross at the far post, only for Chelsea keeper Petr Cech to show brilliant reflexes to deflect his header on to the bar. Carroll turned away to lead Liverpool's insistent protests that the ball had crossed the line but referee Phil Dowd and assistant referee Andrew Garratt waved play on, with even a succession of replays proving inconclusive.

   2012 May 5, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool”, in BBC Sport

2. human sciencesThe descendant of an earlier language element, such as a word or phoneme, in a daughter language.

   Antonyms: etymon

3. rarehuman sciencesThe ancestor word corresponding to a descendant.

   The Middle Korean reflex for mey was mwoy 뫼

   2011, Ki-Moon Lee, S. Robert Ramsey, A history of the Korean language

4. The descendant of anything from an earlier time, such as a cultural myth.

   The superstition of the loup-garou, or werewolf, belongs to the folklore of most modern nations, and has its reflex in the story of "Little Red Riding-hood" and others.

   1898, Christian Brinton, The Century

5. artsA reflection or an image produced by a reflection; the light reflected from an illuminated surface to one in shade.

   A reflex camera uses a mirror to reflect the image onto a ground-glass viewfinder.

   3 more examples

   Yon gray is not the morning’s eye, ’Tis but the pale reflex of Cynthia's brow.

   c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene v]

   On the depths of death there swims The reflex of a human face.

   1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “(please specify |part=Prologue or Epilogue, or |canto=I to CXXIX)”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC

   Lucy is sleeping soundly; the reflex of the dawn is high and far over the sea[.]

   1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, published 1993, page 88

comparative more reflex · superlative most reflex

1. Bent, turned back or reflected.

   the reflex act of the soul, or the turning of the intellectual eye inward upon its own actions

   a. 1677 (date written), Matthew Hale, The Primitive Origination of Mankind, Considered and Examined According to the Light of Nature, London: […] William Godbid, for William Shrowsbery, […], published 1677, →OCLC

2. Produced automatically by a stimulus.

   It's easier to focus on the particular relationship or object (as in 'pornography', for example) than on the sexist (racist, ageist, etc.) attitudes that generate the almost reflex violence taught in our schools, churches, legal processes, families, mass entertainment, and advertising propaganda.

   1984 February 4, Mike Riegle, “Consent and Violence”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 28, page 6

3. geometryHaving greater than 180 degrees but less than 360 degrees.

   We say that an angle is convex if it is not reflex.

   2001, Esther M. Arkin et al., “On the Reflexivity of Point Sets”, in Algorithms and data structures: 7th International Workshop, WADS 2001: Proceedings, Springer, page 195

   5 more examples

   A polygon is said to be convex when no one of its angles is reflex.

   1878, James Maurice Wilson, Elementary Geometry, MacMillan, page 10

   An angle less than a right angle is said to be acute; one greater than a right angle but less than a straight angle is said to be obtuse; one greater than a straight angle but less than a perigon is said to be reflex or convex.

   1895, David Eugen Smith, Wooster Woodruff Bernan, New Plane and Solid Geometry, page 7

   If the reflex region is the interior of the angle, the dihedral angle is reflex.

   1958, Howard Fehr, “On Teaching Dihedral Angle and Steradian” in The Mathematics Teacher, v 51, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, page 275

   A reflex edge of a polyhedron is an edge where the inner dihedral angle subtended by two incident faces is greater than 180°.

   1991, B. Falcidieno et al., “Configurable Representations in Feature-based Modelling”, in Eurographics '91: Proceedings, North-Holland, page 145

   P denotes a polygon and r the number of reflex vertices.

   2004, Ana Paula Tomás and António Leslie Bajuelos, “Quadratic-Time Linear-Space Algorithms Generating Orthogonal Polygons with a Given Number of Vertices”, in Computational Science and Its Applications – ICCSA 2004 Proceedings, part 3, Springer, page 117

   Synonyms: re-entrant

4. paintingIlluminated by light reflected from another part of the same picture.

present singular third person reflexes · participle present reflexing · participle past reflexed · past reflexed

1. transitiveTo bend back or turn back over itself.
2. obsoletetransitiveTo reflect (light, sight, etc.).
3. obsoletetransitiveTo reflect or mirror (an object), to show the image of.
4. obsoletetransitiveTo cast (beams of light) on something.

   The ſpring is hindered by your ſmoothering hoſt, For neither rain can fall vpon the earth, Nor Sun reflexe his vertuous beames thereon. The ground is mantled with ſuch multitudes.

   c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene i

5. To respond to a stimulus.