?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 76^v Þat reflectyng [?c1425 Paris bowynge; L. reflexio] myȝt lette þe goyng oute of þe materie.

1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 261/2 Reflectyng, reflection, reuerberation.

1578 J. Banister Hist. Man i. f. 35 This maner of the ioynt serueth to the bowyng, and reflectyng of the foote.

1594 G. Chapman Σκìα Νυκτòς sig. Div As when the sunnebeams..dance vpon a wall, that is the subiect of his [sc. the sun's] faire reflectings.

a1628 J. Preston Remaines (1634) 44 The reflecting of the understanding, whereby we know the hurt that comes to us thereby.

1667 S. Pepys Diary 14 Feb. (1974) VIII. 61 My Lord Bellasses would not take notice of their reflecting on him.

1711 Brit. Apollo 21–23 Mar. The Earth's reflecting of the Sun's Light.

1712 J. Addison Spectator No. 418. ¶5 We are delighted with the reflecting upon Dangers that are past.

1798 A. F. M. Willich Elements Crit. Philos. 41 Rational Psychology, which considers the subject of the internal sense, mind; and, according to its fundamental notions, the reflecting capacity in general.

1881 Littell's Living Age 22 Jan. 223/2 The reflecting of the flickering volumes of light cast faintly and fitfully in the floating fogs.

a1911 D. G. Phillips Susan Lenox (1917) II. xiv. 350 ‘Study the part of Lola—learn the lines,’ said he, when he had finished his reflecting.

1976 Times 31 Mar. 15/4 If its decline is a portent of a new pattern of newspaper technology and distribution, it augurs ill for the reflecting of democratic processes at the grass roots.

1993 Age (Melbourne) (Nexis) 20 Feb. (Saturday Extra section) 10 Admirers of her self-unsparing reflectings on life behind the Wall.

1632 T. Carre tr. J.-P. Camus Spirituall Combat ii. ix. 232 Simple persons are sometymes more capable of deuotion, then curious, actiue, reflecting, and penetrating witts, who make a great deale more brute, but yeald lesse fruit.

1651 Bp. J. Taylor Rule & Exercises Holy Dying iii. 121 To consist with acts of reason, consideration, choice, and a present and reflecting minde.

1712 R. Blackmore Creation i. 6 To pursue That End..Demands a Conscious, Wise, Reflecting Cause.

1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. iv. 478 Grave and reflecting men..augured from such beginnings the approach of evil times.

1869 N.Y. Herald 7 Apr. 6/6 The..subject of the education of the youth of this city has commanded the best efforts of the reflecting minds of all classes of men of science and of letters.

1902 W. James Varieties Relig. Experience vi–vii. 136 Still, if he is a reflecting being, he must generalize and class his own lot with that of others.

1962 Internat. Affairs 38 485 This trial has made reflecting men and women aware..that the limits of man's inhumanity to man are solely those of time, opportunity, and scientific knowledge.

1991 R. Davies Murther & Walking Spirits iii. xi. 121 Samuel is what the town calls ‘long-headed’. He is a reflecting man, and he reflects a great deal on what may bring him a profit.

1656 W. Rider Laying on of Hands Asserted Post-script sig. N4^v I have indeavoured both in my book and in my Answering of these four Chapters, to write without reflecting Language, which as I know it would not profit my self nor the truth.

1678 Minute Bk. Royal Coll. Surgeons Edinb. II. 186 Samuall Cheislie..did upbraid him with very reflecting expressions..The calling finds the said Samuell Cheislie guiltie in reflecting against the deacon.

1687 A. Farmer in J. R. Bloxham Magdalen Coll. & James II (1886) (modernized text) 74 Certificates, the most reflecting contents of which they disown.

a1715 Bp. G. Burnet Hist. Own Time (1734) II. 412 The Lower House..brought up injurious and reflecting Addresses to the Upper House.

1768 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. III. 125 Neither..are any reflecting words made use of in legal proceedings, and pertinent to the cause in hand, a sufficient cause of action for slander.

1819 W. O. Russell Treat. Crimes & Misdemeanors (1824) I. xxv. 325 When reflecting words are spoken of the judges of the superior courts at Westminster, the speaker is indictable both at common law and under the statutes of Scandalum Magnatum.

1861 S. M. Janney Hist. Relig. Soc. Friends II. xiii. 299 John Wilkinson and John Storey had opposed our Monthly and Quarterly meetings, with reflecting words against them, calling them courts and sessions.

1788 Analyt. Rev. Sept. 122 The reflecting circle was invented by Mayer, about twelve years ago.

1799 tr. J. F. G. de la Perouse Voy. Round World (ed. 2) I. 321 Four reflecting circles, by M. de Borda, to observe the heights and distances of the stars.

1843 J. C. Frémont Rep. May in D. Jackson & M. L. Spence Exped. J. C. Frémont (1970) I. 482 One reflecting circle, by Gambey. Two sextants, by Troughton.

1920 P. P. Blackburn White's Elements Theoret. & Descriptive Astron. (ed. 8) ii. 47 The reflecting circle is still another modification of the sextant.

2006 M. W. Jackson Harmonious Triads v. 119 The father was renowned for his manufacture of precision optical instruments..such as high-precision thermometers and a reflecting circle (Spiegelkreis).

?a1560 L. Digges Geom. Pract.: Pantometria (1571) i. xxi. sig. Gij The Parabola for his small distance, most perfectly doth vnite beames, and most vehemently burneth of all other reflecting glasses.

1734 I. Watts Reliquiæ Juveniles Pref. p. xiv When a reflecting Glass shews the Deformities of a Face so plain as to point to the Person, [etc.].

1857 R. B. Stratton Captivity of Oatman Girls (1858) 84 His movements were a reflecting glass, in which we could as plainly read some dire catastrophe was breeding for us.

1987 Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc. 77 63 The poem itself, referred to as a ‘mirroure’ by Jean de Meun, is both a reflecting glass and a lens radiating and deflecting light upon love and lovers.

2000 J. Schenkar Truly Wilde ii. 33 Everything is slightly distorted by the patinations of the old reflecting glass.

1672 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 7 4004 This Excellent Mathematician [sc. Isaac Newton] having given us..an account of the cause, which induced him to think upon Reflecting Telescopes, instead of Refracting ones, hath thereupon presented the Curious World with an Essay of what may be performed by such Telescopes.

1725 A. Pope Corr. 10 Oct. (1956) II. 330 Have ye not Reflecting Telescopes whereby ye may innocently magnify her Spots and Blemishes?

1842 W. T. Brande Dict. Sci., Lit. & Art 1220/1 In reflecting telescopes the speculum, or mirror, performs the same office that the object-glass does in those of the refracting kind.

1916 Times 19 July 5/3 A 72in. reflecting telescope, the largest yet completed, has just been finished by the Warner and Swasey Company, Cleveland, Ohio.

2001 F. Watson in P. Moore 2002 Yearbk. Astron. ii. 228 Spherical mirrors..cannot be used in conventional reflecting telescopes because they suffer from spherical aberration.

1643 R. Baker Chron. Kings of Eng. i. 95 Though these directly were but particular Grievances, yet reflectingly they were generall.

1701 J. Norris Ess. Ideal World I. i. 21 He may not indeed think of it reflectingly and distinctly.

1838 New Monthly Mag. 53 541 Well and reflectingly hath Wordsworth told us that the simplest flower [etc.].

1992 Sunday Age (Melbourne) (Nexis) 8 Nov. 9 ‘I think I grew up in considerable hardship, yes, I do,’ he says reflectingly.