refinement 
affected subtlety: as, the refinements of logic 
or philosophy ; the refinements of cunning. 
It is the Poet's Refinement upon this Thought which I 
most admire. Addison, Spectator, No. 303. 
From the small experience I have of courts, I have ever 
found refinements to be the worst sort of all conjec- 
tures ; ... of some hundreds of facts, for the real truth 
of which I can account, I never yet knew any refiner to 
be once in the right. Swift, Change in Queen's Ministry. 
As used in Greece, its [the Doric column's] beauty was 
very much enhanced by a number of refinements whose ex- 
istence was not suspected till lately, and even now rail- 
not be detected but by the most practised eye. 
J. Fergusson, Hist. Arch., I. 249. 
5f. Excessive or extravagant compliment; a 
form of expression intended to impose on the 
hearer. 
I must tell you a great piece of refinement of Barley. He 
charged me to come to him often ; I told him I was loth 
to trouble him in so much business as he had, and desired 
I might have leave to come at his levee ; which he imme- 
diately refused, and said that was not a place for friends 
to come to. Su-ift, Journal to Stella, v. 
= Syn. 3. Cultivation, etc. See culture. 
refiner (rf-fi'ner), . 1. One who refines li- 
quors, sugar, metals, etc. 
And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver. 
Mai. ill. 3. 
2. An improver in purity and elegance. 
As they have been the great refiners of our language, so 
it hath been my chief ambition to imitate them. Swift. 
3. An inventor of superfluous subtleties ; one 
who is overnice in discrimination, or in argu- 
ment, reasoning, philosophy, etc. 
Whether (as some phantasticall refyners of phylosophy 
will needes perswade vs)hell is nothing but error, and that 
none but fooles and idiots and mechanicall men, that haue 
no learning, shall be damnd. 
Nashe, Pierce Penilesse, p. 66. 
No men see less of the truth of things than these great 
refiners upon incidents, who are so wonderfully subtle and 
over wise in their conceptions. Addison. 
4f. One who indulges in excessive compliment ; 
one who is over-civil ; a flatterer. 
The worst was, our guilded refiners with their golden 
promises made all men their slaues in hope of recom- 
pences. Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, 1. 169. 
For these people have fallen into a needless and endless 
way of multiplying ceremonies, which have been extremely 
troublesome to those who practise them, and insupporta- 
ble to every body else ; insomuch that wise men are often 
more uneasy at the over civility of these refiners than they 
could possibly be in the conversation of peasants or me- 
chanics. Swift, Good Manners. 
5. An apparatus for refining; specifically, in 
England, a gas-purifier. 
refinery (re-fi'ner-i), n.; pi. refineries (-iz). [< 
refine + -e'ry. Cf . F. raffinerie, a refinery,< raf- 
finer, refine: see refine.] A place or establish- 
ment where some substance, as petroleum, is 
refined; specifically, in metal., a place where 
metals are refined. See refine and finery 2 . 
refit (re-fif), r. [< re- + fifl, v. Partly due to 
ME. refeten, repair: see refete.] I. trans. 1. To 
fit or prepare again; restore after damage or 
decay; repair: as, to refit ships of war. 
Permit our ships a shelter on your shores, 
Refitted from your woods with planks and oars. 
Dryden, Jineid, i. 777. 
We landed, in order to refit our vessels and store our- 
selves with provisions. Aildismt. Frozen Words. 
2. To fit out or provide anew. 
II. intrans. To repair damages, especially 
damages of ships. 
Having received some Damage by a Storm, we ... put 
In here to refit before we could adventure to go farther. 
Dumpier, Voyages, I. 418. 
At each place [Tampa Bay and Pensacola Bay] we have 
a railroad terminus, while at the latter harbor are ample 
means for refitting. Jour, of Mil. Service Inst., X. 686. 
refit (re-fif), n. [< refit, .] The repairing or 
renovating of what is damaged or worn out; 
specifically, the repair of a ship: as, the vessel 
came in for refit. 
refitment (re-fit'ment), . [< refit + -ment.] 
The act of refitting!' 
refl. An abbreviation of reflexive. 
reflairt, . [< ME. ; as re- + flair.] An odor, 
gif hit watz semly on to sene, 
A fayre refiayr jet fro hit Hot, 
Ther wonys that worthyly I wot <fe wene. 
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), I. 46. 
reflairt, . i. [ME. reflaren; < reflair, n.] To 
arise, as an odor. 
Haill ! floscampy, and flower vyrgynall, 
The odour of thy goodnes refiars to vs all. 
York Plays, p. 444. 
reflame (re-flam'), v. i. [< re- + flame.] To 
blaze again; burst again into flame. 
Stamp out the fire, or this 
Will smoulder and re-fame, and burn the throne 
Where you should sit with Philip. 
Tennyson, Queen Mary, i. 5. 
5034 
reflect (re-flekf), v. [< OF. reflecter, F. refle- 
ter (= Sp. reflector, reflejar), reflect; vernacu- 
larly, OF. refleciiir, bend back, F. reflichir, re- 
flect, etc., = Pr. Sp. Pg. reflectir = It. riflettere, 
reflettere, reflect; \ii.reflectere, bend backward, 
< re-, back, + flectere, bend : see flection.] I. 
trans. 1. To bend back; turnback; cast back; 
throw back again. 
Reflect I not on thy baseness court-contempt? 
Shak., W. T., iv. 4. 758. 
And dazled with this greater light, I would reflect mine 
eyes to that reflexion of this light. 
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 13. 
Let me mind the reader to reflect his eye upon other 
quotations. Fuller. 
Do you reflect that Guilt upon me? 
Gangrene, Way of the World, ii. 3. 
2. Hence, figuratively, to bend the will of; per- 
suade. [Rare.] 
Such rites beseem ambassadors, and Nestor urged these, 
That their most honours might reflect enraged (Eacides. 
Chapman, Iliad, ix. 180. (Dames.) 
3. To cause to return or to throw off after 
striking or falling on any surface, and in ac- 
cordance with certain physical laws: as, to 
reflect light, heat, or sound; incident and re- 
flected rays. See reflection, 2. 
Then, grim in arms, with hasty vengeance flies, 
Arms that reflect a radiance through the skies. 
Pope, Iliad, xv. 137. 
Like a wave of water which is sent up against a sea- 
wall, aud which reflects itself back along the sea. 
W. K. Clifford, Lectures, II. 40. 
4. To give back an image or likeness of ; mirror. 
Nature is the glass reflecting God, 
As by the sea reflected is the sun. 
Young, Night Thoughts, Ix. 1007. 
Heav'n reflected in her face. Cowper, A Comparison. 
The vast bosom of the Hudson was like an unruffled 
mirror, reflecting the golden splendor of the heavens. 
Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 344. 
Among the lower forms of life there is but little varia- 
tion among the units ; the one reflects the other, and spe- 
cies axe founded upon differences that are only deter* 
mined by using the micrometer. 
Amer. Nat., June, 1890, p. 578. 
II. intrans. 1. To bend or turn back; be re- 
flected. 
Let thine eyes 
Reflect upon thy soul, and there behold 
How loathed black it is. 
Beau, and Fl., Captain, iv. 6. 
Not any thing that shall 
Kcflect injurious to yourself. 
Shirley, Love's Cruelty, I 1. 
2. To throw back light, heat, sound, etc. ; give 
reflections; return rays or beams : as, & reflect- 
ing mirror or gem. 
She lifts the coffer-lids that close his eyes, 
Where, lo, two lamps, burnt out, in darkness lies ; 
Two glasses, where herself herself beheld 
A thousand times, and now no more reflect. 
Shak., Venus and Adonis, 1. 1130. 
3. To throw or turn back the thoughts upon 
something; think or consider seriously ; revolve 
matters in the mind, especially in relation to 
conduct; ponder or meditate. 
Who saith, Who could such ill events expect? 
With shame on his own counsels doth reflect. 
Sir J. Denham, Prudence. 
Content if hence the unlearn'd their wants may view, 
The learn'd reflect on what before they knew. 
Pope, Essay on Criticism, 1. 740. 
We cannot be said to reflect upon any external object ex- 
cept in so far as that object has been previously perceived, 
and its image become part and parcel of our intellectual 
furniture. Sir W. Hamilton, Metaph., x. 
Let boys and girls in our schools be taught to think ; 
let them not be drilled so much in remembering as in re- 
flecting. J. F. Clarice, Self-Culture, p. 137. 
4. To bring reproach ; cast censure or blame : 
followed by on or upon. 
This kind of language reflects with the same Ignominy 
upon all the Protestant Reformations that have bin since 
Luther. Milton, Eikonoklastes, xiiii. 
She could not bear to hear Charles reflected on, notwith- 
standing their difference. 
Sheridan, School for Scandal, i. 1. 
5f. To shine. 
Lord Saturnine ; whose virtues will, I hope, 
Reflect on Rome as Titan's rays on earth, 
And ripen justice. Shak., Tit. And., i. 1. 226. 
=Syn. 3. To consider, meditate upon, etc. (see list under 
contemplate\ cogitate, ruminate, study. 
reflectt, . [< reflect, v.] A reflection. [Rare.] 
Would you in blindnesse live? these rales of myne 
Give that reflect by which your Beauties shine. 
Heywood, Apollo and Daphne (Works, ed. Pearson, 1874, 
[VI. 289). 
reflected (rf-flek'ted), p. a. 1. Cast or thrown 
back: as. reflected light. 2. In anat., turned 
back upon itself. See reflection, 10. 3. In en- 
torn., turned upward or back: as, a reflected 
reflection 
margin. 4. In licr., same as reflexed,3 Fleeted 
and reflected. See fleeted. Reflected light, in paint- 
ing, the subdued light which falls on objects that are in 
shadow, and serves to bring out their forms. It is treated 
as reflected from some object on which the light falls di- 
rectly, whether seen in the picture or supposed to influ- 
ence it from without. 
reflectentt (re-flek'tent), a. [< L. reflecten(t-)n, 
ppr. ofreflectere, reflect: see reflect.] 1. Bend- 
ing or flying back; reflected. 
The ray descendent, and the ray reflectent. 
Sir K. LHgby, Nature of Man's Soul. (Latham.) 
2. Capable of reflecting. 
When light passes through such bodies, it finds at the 
very entrance of them such resistences, where it passes, 
as serve it for a reflecting body, and yet such a reflectent 
body as hinders not the passage through, but only from 
being a straight line with the line incident. 
Sir K. Digby, Of Bodies, xiii. 
reflectible (re-flek'ti-bl), o. [< reflect + -ible. 
Cf. reflexible.] Capable of being reflected or 
thrown back, 
reflecting (re-flek'ting),^. a. 1. Throwing back 
light, heat, etc., as a mirror or other polished 
surface. 
A perfectly reflecting body is one which cannot absorb 
any ray. Polished silver suggests such a body. 
Tail, Light, 807. 
2. Given to reflection ; thoughtful ; medita- 
tive ; provident : as, a reflecting mind. 
No reflecting man can ever wish to adulterate manly 
piety (the parent of all that is good in the world) with 
mummery and parade. 
Sydney Smith, in Lady Holland, iii. 
Reflecting Circle, an instrument for measuring altitudes 
and angular distances, constructed on the principle of the 
sextant, the graduations, however, being continued com- 
pletely round the limb of the circle. Reflecting dial. 
See dial. Reflecting galvanometer. See Thomson's 
mirror galvanometer, under galvanometer. Reflecting 
goniometer. See goniometer. Reflecting lamp, a 
lamp with an upper reflector so arranged as to throw 
downward those rays of light which tend upward. Re- 
flecting level, (a) An instrument for determining a 
horizontal direction by looking at the reflection of an ob- 
ject at a distance. Thus, in Mariotte's level, the level is 
determined by bisecting the distance between the direct 
Image of an object and Its reflection in a sort of artificial 
horizon. In Cassini's level, a telescope hangs vertically, 
carrying before its object-glass a plane mirror inclined 
45 to the line of sight. (6) An Instrument in which a 
slow-moving bubble is viewed by reflection, so that the 
image of the middle of it can be seen by the side of the 
direct image of a distant object. Such are Abney's and 
Locke's levels, used by topographers. See /."/;'. level, 
under leveli. Reflecting microscope. See microscope. 
Reflecting power, the power possessed by any surface 
of throwing off a greater or less proportion of incident 
heat. This power is a maximum for the polished metals 
and a minimum for a surface of lampblack ; it is the re- 
ciprocal of the absorptive (and radiating) power. Re- 
flecting quadrant. See quadrant, 4. Reflecting 
sight, in firearms, a reflecting surface placed at such an 
angle as to reflect to the eye light from one direction only. 
K. a. Knight. Reflecting telescope. See telescope. 
reflectingly (re-flek'ting-li), adv. 1. With re- 
flection. 2. AJVith censure; reproachfully; cen- 
soriously. [Rare.] 
A great indiscretion In the archbishop of Dublin, who 
applied a story out of Tacitus very reflectinyly on Mr. Har- 
ley. Suift, Journal to Stella, xx. 
reflection, reflexion (re-flek'shgn), n. [< ME. 
reflexion, reflexiotin, < OF. reflexion, F. reflexion, 
reflection = Pr. reflexio = Sp. reflexion = Pg. re- 
flex&o = It. riflessione, < LL. reflexio(n-), a bend- 
ing or turning back, < L. reflectere, pp. reflextis, 
bend back, reflect: see reflect.] 1. A bending 
back ; a turning. 
Crooked Erimanthus wyth hys manye tnrnynges and 
reflexions is consumed by the inhabytours with wateryng 
their ground. J. Srende, tr. of Quintus Curtius, fol. 232. 
2. The act of reflecting, or the state of being 
reflected; specifically, in physics, the change 
of direction which a ray of light, radiant heat, 
or sound experiences when it strikes upon a 
surface and is thrown back into the same me- 
dium from which it approached. Reflection fol- 
lows two laws, viz. (1) the angle of reflection is equal to 
the angle of incidence ; and (2) the reflected and incident 
rays are in the same plane with a normal to the surface. If 
DE represents the surface of a mir- 
ror and CB the incident ray, then HBC 
is the angle ofincidence,&ud HBA, equal 
to it, is the angle of reflection. This ap- 
plies alike to sound, to radiant energy 
(heat and light), and also to a perfectly 
elastic body bounding from a perfectly 
elastic rigid surface. The plane pass- 
ing through the perpendicular to the 
reflecting surface at the point of incidence and the path 
of the reflected ruy of light or heat is called the plane of 
reflection. (See mirror, echo.) For the total reflection of 
rays when the critical angle is passed, see refraction. 
Lights, by clear reflection multiplied 
From many a mirror. Cowper, Task, iv. 268. 
Refection always accompanies refraction ; and if one of 
these disappear, the other will disappear also. 
Tyndall, Light and Elect., p. 39. 
