specular

comparative more specular · superlative most specular

1. Pertaining to mirrors; mirror-like, reflective.First known use 17th c.

   a perfect likeness would rather suggest a specular, and hence speculatory, phenomenon [...].

   1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor, Penguin, published 2011, page 14

2. medicineOf or relating to a speculum; conducted with the aid of a speculum.

   a specular examination

3. Assisting sight, like a lens etc.

   Thy specular orb / Apply to well-dissected kernels; lo! / In each observe the slender threads / Of first-beginning trees.

   1708, John Philips, Cyder

4. poeticOffering an expansive view; picturesque.

   Look once more, e're we leave this specular mount.

   1671, John Milton, “The Fourth Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC

   1 more example

   Calm as the Universe, from specular towers / Of heaven contemplated by Spirits pure.

   1833, William Wordsworth, Hope Smiled