specular
adjUK /ˈspɛk.jʊ.lə/ · US /ˈspɛk.jə.lɚ/
Etymology From Latin speculāris, from speculum; and in some senses from speculārī (“to watch, observe”). Some later senses via French spéculaire.
1
Pertaining to mirrors; mirror-like, reflective.
- a perfect likeness would rather suggest a specular, and hence speculatory, phenomenon [...].1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor, Penguin, published 2011, page 14:
2
Medicine, Sciences Of or relating to a speculum; conducted with the aid of a speculum.
- a specular examination
3
Assisting sight, like a lens etc.
- Thy specular orb / Apply to well-dissected kernels; lo! / In each observe the slender threads / Of first-beginning trees.1708, John Philips, Cyder:
4
Poetic Offering an expansive view; picturesque.
- Calm as the Universe, from specular towers / Of heaven contemplated by Spirits pure.1833, William Wordsworth, Hope Smiled:
- Look once more, e're we leave this specular mount.1671, John Milton, “The Fourth Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC:
- Derived terms
- aspecular, despecularize, nonspecular, specular iron, specularity, specularization, specularize, specularly, specular stone