Re"flex (r?"fl?ks), a. [L. reflexus, p. p. of reflectere: cf. F. r'eflexe. 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.
© Webster 1913.
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.
© Webster 1913.
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.
© Webster 1913.