SPECULAR • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Specular

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adjective

Specular adj.

Having the qualities of a speculum, or mirror; having a smooth, reflecting surface; as, a specular metal; a specular surface.

(Med.) Of or pertaining to a speculum; conducted with the aid of a speculum; as, a specular examination.

Assisting sight, as a lens or the like. (Obs.) "Thy specular orb Apply to well-dissected kernels; lo! In each observe the slender threads Of first-beginning trees."

Affording view. (R.) "Look once more, ere we leave this specular mount."

Specular iron. (Min.) See Hematite.

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Etymology of 'Specular'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Specular" Quotes from Famous Books

... IN SANDSTONE. Specular and magnetic iron on various igneous rocks; finely laminated ...

— Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa - Journeys and Researches in South Africa • David Livingstone

... as the whizzer is a thin, flat, pointed piece of wood, painted black and sparkling with the specular iron ore which is sprinkled on the surface; three small pieces of turquoise are inlaid in the wood to represent eyes and mouth. One whizzer which I examined was nine inches long, one and three-fourths inches ...

— The Mountain Chant, A Navajo Ceremony • Washington Matthews

... earth. Yet there is nothing upon the face of the whole earth which is capable of reflecting the slightest amount of the sun's rays to those spheres. The fields, forests, rocks, and seas, only absorb light, they do not reflect it. In this phenomenon, therefore, there is no element of specular reflection. It consists rather of the lighting up of the static vito-magnetic fluid of our atmosphere, by the great solar current. The atmosphere, thus vivified, discloses our presence to those orbs, and in like manner, their presence to ...

— New and Original Theories of the Great Physical Forces • Henry Raymond Rogers

... unimpressive. He was not in any kind of panic and was working hard in his fields. He meant merely to convey in gesture some expression like "those damned cutthroats of Germans." I left the Scherpenberg Hill with great regret. It was a wonderful "specular mount." As one stood by the side of the windmill and gazed over the battle-ground, one seemed to get war in its true perspective, something not quite as horrible or sensational as one gathers from special correspondents at the front, and yet something full of a deadly earnestness, intensity, ...

— The Adventure of Living • John St. Loe Strachey

Words linked to "Specular" : mirrorlike, reflective