specular
English
Etymology
From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin speculāris, from speculum; and in some senses from speculārī (“to watch, observe”). Some later senses via (deprecated template usage) [etyl] French spéculaire.
Pronunciation
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Adjective
specular (comparative more specular, superlative most specular)
- Pertaining to mirrors; mirror-like, reflective. [from 17th c.]
- 1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor, Penguin 2011, p. 14:
- a perfect likeness would rather suggest a specular, and hence speculatory, phenomenon [...].
- 1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor, Penguin 2011, p. 14:
- (medicine) Of or relating to a speculum; conducted with the aid of a speculum.
- a specular examination
- Assisting sight, like a lens etc.
- (Can we date this quote by J. Philips and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- Thy specular orb / Apply to well-dissected kernels; lo! / In each observe the slender threads / Of first-beginning trees.
- (Can we date this quote by J. Philips and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- (poetic) Offering an expansive view; picturesque.
- 1833, William Wordsworth, Hope Smiled:
- Calm as the Universe, from specular towers / Of heaven contemplated by Spirits pure.
- (Can we date this quote by Milton and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- Look once more, ere we leave this specular mount.
- 1833, William Wordsworth, Hope Smiled: