Crossword clues for specular
specular
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Specular \Spec"u*lar\, a. [L. specularis (cf., from the same root, specula a lookout, watchtower): cf. F. sp['e]culaire. See Speculum.]
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.
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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.
--J. Philips. -
Affording view. [R.] ``Look once more, ere we leave this specular mount.''
--Milton.Specular iron. (Min.) See Hematite.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1570s, "reflective" (like a mirror), from Latin specularis, from speculum "a mirror" (see speculum). Meaning "assisting in vision; affording a view" is from 1650s, from Latin speculari "to spy" (see speculation).
Wiktionary
a. 1 Pertaining to mirrors; mirror-like, reflective. (from 17th c.) 2 (context medicine English) Of or relating to a speculum; conducted with the aid of a speculum. 3 Assisting sight, like a lens etc. 4 (context poetic English) Offering an expansive view; picturesque.
WordNet
adj. capable of reflecting light like a mirror; "mirrorlike surface of the lake"; "a specular metal" [syn: mirrorlike]
Wikipedia
Usage examples of "specular".
It had a high albedo and matte finish, so there was no specular reflection.
Impact craters as large as cities have been excavated and built upon and their specular content has dramatically increased, suggesting refined materials.
The large specular regions suggest shiny, most likely metallic, structures, consisting of synthetic, smoothed minerals or concrete, or glass-covered structures.
Sparkling like specular hematite, the lengths of black shimmer only emphasized the whiteness of her flesh.
Although the specular oppositions of the cold war strangled both the U.
Its specular opposition of this false claim, however, leads only to a position that is equally false.
That is, he refuses to participate in his purely specular attitude to the woman and to discuss her as a category.
Kristeva treats the formation of this specular, pre-Oedipal personality structure as the reflection of the maternal phallus.
Two Frisbees and what looks like a disembowelled ring of Frisbee float back and forth along this ridge, dreamily floating back and forth, sometimes dipping below the ridge and lost, for a moment, to the specular vision of Tine.
Tiny puddles had been left behind: hundreds of Canadian lakes, so many that Allison could follow the sun in specular glints that shifted from one to another.