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reflex |
4 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Reflex \Re"flex\ (r?"fl?ks), a. [L. reflexus p. p. of reflectere: cf F. r['e]flexe. See {Reflect}.] 1. Directed back attended by reflection; retroactive; introspective. The reflex act of the soul, or the turning of the intellectual eye inward upon its own actions. --Sir M. Hale. 2. Produced in reaction, in resistance, or in return. 3. (Physiol.) Of pertaining to or produced by stimulus or excitation without the necessary intervention of consciousness. {Reflex action} (Physiol.), any action performed involuntarily in consequence of an impulse or impression transmitted along afferent nerves to a nerve center, from which it is reflected to an efferent nerve, and so calls into action certain muscles, organs, or cells. {Reflex nerve} (Physiol.), an excito-motory nerve. See {Exito-motory}. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Reflex \Re"flex\ (r?"fl?ks; formerly r?*fl?ks"), n. [L. reflexus a bending back See {Reflect}.] 1. Reflection; the light reflected from an illuminated surface to one in shade. Yon gray is not the morning's eye, 'Tis but the pale reflex of Cynthia's brow. --Shak. On the depths of death there swims The reflex of a human face. --Tennyson. 2. (Physiol.) An involuntary movement produced by reflex action {Patellar reflex}. See {Knee jerk}, under {Knee}. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Reflex \Re*flex"\ (r?*fl?ks"), v. t. [L. reflexus p. p. of reflectere See {Reflect}.] 1. To reflect. [Obs.] --Shak. 2. To bend back to turn back --J. Gregory. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: reflex adj : (physiology) without volition or conscious control; "the automatic shrinking of the pupils of the eye in strong light"; "a reflex knee jerk"; "sneezing is reflexive" [syn: {automatic}, {reflex(a)}, {reflexive}] n : an automatic reaction [syn: {physiological reaction}]
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