refractv.
/rᵻˈfrakt/, U.S. /rəˈfræk(t)/, /riˈfræk(t)/ 1.
a. transitive. Physics. Of a medium, substance, object, etc.: to deflect the course of (light rays), esp. when they enter the medium, etc., at an oblique angle; to cause refraction of (light, other electromagnetic radiation, or sound or other wave phenomena). Also in extended use. Also intransitive.
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the world > matter > physics > mechanics > types of motion > [verb (transitive)] > actions of or upon waves
refract1563
reflect1672
the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > light > refraction > refract [verb (transitive)]
refract1563
refringea1623
the world > action or operation > difficulty > hindrance > hindering completely or preventing > hinder completely or prevent [verb (transitive)] > obviate > prevent the occurrence of or avert
werec925
withsitc1300
shun1338
to turn awaya1382
forfend1382
declinec1430
stopa1538
divert1548
refract1563
withturn1563
antevert1583
avert1586
pervert1594
deprive1627
averruncate1663
stave1664
to stop off1891
1563 W. Fulke Goodle Gallerye Causes Meteors iii. f. 36v Or els the sunne beames, strike into an hollow cloude, where they are refracted or broken, and so cometh to the eyes of hym ye beholdeth the raynbowe.
1612 J. Selden in M. Drayton Poly-olbion To Rdr. sig. A3v By..rash collecting (as it were,) from visuall beam's refracted through anothers eye.
1635 A. Gil Sacred Philos. Holy Script. Pref. sig. *2 If the eye bee not able to behold the beames of the Sunne,..yet it joyes to see that shining lampe when his beames are refract, or as it were broken off.
1656 tr. T. Hobbes Elements Philos. iii. xxiv. 284 The sine of the angle Refracted in one Inclination, is to the sine of the angle Refracted in another Inclination [etc.].
1668 N. Culpeper & A. Cole tr. T. Bartholin Anat. (new ed.) iii. viii. 148 The glassie Humor may give a passage to the Species to the Retina, and may refract them from Perpendiculars.
1678 T. Hobbes Decameron Physiologicum x. 125 It will follow, that all Transparent Bodies that equally refract are equally Hard. Which I think is not true.
1728 H. Pemberton View Sir I. Newton's Philos. 375 All transparent bodies refract part of the light incident upon them, and reflect another part.
1790 E. Burke Refl. Revol. in France 91 These metaphysic rights..like rays of light,..are, by the laws of nature, refracted from their strait line. View more context for this quotation
1794 J. Hutton Diss. Philos. Light 218 The powers in bodies for variously reflecting, absorbing, transmitting, and refracting light.
1806 W. Henry Epitome Chem. (ed. 4) i. iii. 29 Caloric is refracted, also, according to the same law that regulates the refraction of light.
1872 T. H. Huxley Lessons Elem. Physiol. (ed. 6) ix. 225 Glass refracts light more strongly than water does.
1874 Proc. Royal Soc. 1873–4 22 532 I have dealt with the effect of the atmosphere to refract sound upwards.
1880 A. C. Swinburne Birthday Ode in Songs Springtides 38 With moonlight-coloured gold And rays refract from the oldworld heaven of time.
1948 R. M. Pearl Pop. Gemol. ii. 37 Each color of the spectrum is refracted to a different extent.
1966 McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. (rev. ed.) XI. 408/1 Waves propagated through the solid earth are refracted by changes of material or changes of density.
1991 N.Y. Times 22 Oct. c15/1 It has..a sculptural glass roof to refract the Kyoto sky and surrounding mountains.
1997 K. Reichs Déjà Dead xxvi. 308 The haze refracted the sun's glare and spread it all around like a cloak.
2000 L. Crane Ninth Day of Creation 474 This was where the sound refocused its energy after being refracted through the thermocline.
2003 Holiday Which? Spring 105/1 Light refracted through the stained glass dances kaleidoscopically on the wall.
b. transitive. figurative. To mediate; to alter; to distort.
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the world > time > change > change [verb (transitive)]
wharvec897
wendOE
i-wendeOE
awendOE
aturn?c1225
biwrixle?c1225
changec1225
turnc1225
shifta1325
vary1340
inchangea1382
strange1390
altera1398
alterate?a1425
permute?a1425
difference1481
renewc1515
alienate1534
wrixlec1540
to chop and change1557
variate1566
palter1587
permutate1598
immute1613
unmake1616
unsame1632
chop1644
veer1647
variegatea1690
refract1700
mutabilatea1704
commute1825
stranger1863
switch1919
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > misinterpretation > distortion or perversion of meaning > pervert or distort [verb (transitive)]
crooka1340
deprave1382
pervertc1390
strainc1449
drawc1450
miswrest?a1475
bewrya1522
wry?1521
to make a Welshman's hose ofa1529
writhea1533
wrest1533
invert1534
wring?1541
depravate1548
rack1548
violent1549
wrench1549
train1551
wreathe1556
throw1558
detorta1575
shuffle1589
wriggle1593
distortc1595
to put, set, place, etc. on the rack1599
twine1600
wire-draw1610
monstrify1617
screw1628
corrupt1630
gloss1638
torture1648
force1662
vex1678
refract1700
warp1717
to put a force upon1729
twist1821
ply1988
the world > action or operation > advantage > usefulness > use (made of things) > instrumentality > render instrumental [verb (transitive)] > be intermediate means in
mean1440
mediate1630
refract1700
middleman1976
1700 J. Sergeant Transnatural Philos. i. vii. 169 They would Refract one another's Nature, and make it otherwise than it was, to some Degree; as they do in Material Things, or Bodies.
1869 W. E. H. Lecky Hist. European Morals II. v. 355 No other body of men have ever exhibited a more single~minded and unworldly zeal, refracted by no personal interests.
1876 L. Stephen Hours in Libr. 2nd Ser. v. 203 Imperfect images refracted through..distorting media.
1899 Mod. Lang. Notes 14 208/1 Goethe's sympathetic remarks are refracted through the prism of Eckermann's sympathy.
1939 R. G. Collingwood Autobiogr. viii. 78 Old problems in the new forms which they had assumed..when refracted into new shapes through the new scientific atmosphere.
1968 I. Deutscher Marxism in our Time (1972) x. 217 Any careful student of Soviet affairs..will have little or no difficulty in tracing the conflicting attitudes as they reflect themselves in Soviet writings or as they refract themselves in the zigzags of official policy.
1996 Sunday Tel. 13 Oct. (Review section) 7/1 As the series unfolds, it becomes clear that what he's produced is not just a history of American art, but a history of the United States refracted through its art.
c. transitive. To produce by refraction.
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the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > light > refraction > refract [verb (transitive)] > produce light
refract1728
1728 J. Thomson Spring 13 Mean-time refracted from yon Eastern Cloud..the grand ætherial Bow Shoots up immense!
1764 W. Falconer Shipwreck (new ed.) ii. 54 His languid fires..Refract along the dusk a crimson blaze.
1864 London Q. Apr. 182/2 Public fountains, refracting all the prismatic hues under a brilliant sun, sparkled in every street.
1998 T. Hughes Birthday Lett. 61 You Had all the liberties, having life. The future had invested in you—As you might say of a jewel So brilliantly faceted, refracting Every tint.
2007 A. König in M. Allen Reading CSI viii. 104 Bright southern sunshine saturates each frame, refracting colours that are reminiscent of a Mario Testino photo shoot.
d. intransitive. To undergo refraction.
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1888 W. I. L. Adams Photogr. Instructor 138 Differently-colored rays refract unequally.
1890 Dict. National Biogr. XXIV. 236/2 This result, that light refracts as a conical pencil,..was soon after verified for universal acceptance.
1962 M. Kline Math. vii. 160 We now know how light refracts.
1984 A. C. Duxbury & A. Duxbury Introd. World's Oceans iii. 73 As the seismic waves move through one earth layer and into another, the waves bend, or refract.
1987 W. Percy Thanatos Syndrome (1988) ii. vi. 125 A dense vapor in which the sunlight refracts.
1994 L. A. Graf Traitor Winds iii. 42 Willis's fingers drummed on the edge of the transparent aluminium case, triggering interference ripples in the sunlight refracting through it.
2. transitive. To reflect, return. Now rare.
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the world > matter > light > reflection > [verb (transitive)]
rebounda1450
reflexc1536
reflect1555
return1557
repercuss1604
retort1609
refract1621
reverberate1638
to throw back1698
flash1716
to give back1831
glint1844
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > backward movement > cause to move back [verb (transitive)] > cast backwards
refract1621
retroject1850
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > resonance or sonority > resound [verb (transitive)] > reverberate or echo
answera1425
redoublea1542
rebound1555
return1557
reply1565
report1589
re-echo1595
repercuss?a1597
render1598
reverberate1603
respeak1604
reverb1608
retort1609
reword1609
revoice1610
refract1621
to give back1889
1621 R. Burton Anat. Melancholy i. ii. ii. v. 109 The Turkes weare great Tulipantes..to refract the Sun beams.
1655 T. Stanley Hist. Philos. ii. 7 By reflection of the Sunns beams upon a thick cloud, which, not able to pierce it, are refracted upon it.
1658 J. Rowland tr. T. Moffett Theater of Insects in Topsell's Hist. Four-footed Beasts (rev. ed.) Ep. Ded. The air..beating against the rough-cast walls of the hollow place, and refracted, makes a sound.
1694 W. Westmacott Θεολοβοτονολογια 1 [Algum wood] was most precious,..fit to refract sounds.
1748 T. Rutherforth Syst. Nat. Philos. I. 280 They would be refracted back into their former directions.
1826 ‘D. Blair’ Gram. Nat. & Exper. Philos. (ed. 21) 83 If another double convex F G..be placed in the rays at the same distance from the focus, it will so refract the rays back again.
1902 T. Ball Let. 1 Jan. in R. G. Hewlett Jessie Ball du Pont (1992) i. 16 It makes me think of the palms of the morning land, where the emerald dew drops shine & glitter, refracting all the tints of the sleeted groves.
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the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > cause or effect (harm) [verb (transitive)] > do harm or injury to > affect detrimentally
atterc885
hurtc1200
marc1225
appair1297
impair1297
spilla1300
emblemishc1384
endull1395
blemishc1430
depaira1460
depravea1533
deform1533
envenom1533
vitiate1534
quail1551
impeach1563
subvert1565
craze1573
taint1573
spoil1578
endamage1579
qualify1584
stain1584
crack1590
ravish1594
interess1598
invitiate1598
corrupt1602
venom1621
depauperate1623
detriment1623
flaw1623
embase1625
ungold1637
murder1644
refract1646
depress1647
addle1652
sweal1655
butcher1659
shade1813
mess1823
puckeroo1840
untone1861
blue1880
queer1884
dick1972
forgar-
the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > separation > separation or breaking up into constituent parts > separate into constituents [verb (transitive)]
resolvea1398
analyse1606
untwist1611
refract1646
disband1695
decomposea1751
decompounda1751
to break up1751
disintegrate1794
to break down1859
dissociate1869
factor1958
1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica 378 Poysons..so refracted, cicurated, and subdued, as not to make good their..destructive malignities. View more context for this quotation
1647 H. Hammond Of Power of Keyes Pref. sig. Aiv The several excellencies of the other three..may..be found (at least, as in mixture, refracted and) compounded in this fourth.
a1676 M. Hale Primitive Originat. Mankind (1677) iv. iii. 318 Those common Notions which yet remain in the Humane Nature, though refracted and abated by the Fall of Man.
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the world > matter > chemistry > chemical assay or analytical chemistry > analyse chemically [verb (transitive)] > by process of specific types of chemical analysis > analyse using other techniques
refract1845
tag1939
1845 E. A. Parnell Chem. Anal. (new ed.) 478 The most usual method of refracting nitre consists in determining, 1°, the amount of water lost by exposure to a moderate heat; 2°, the amount of insoluble matter; [etc.].
1849 H. M. Noad Chem. Anal. ii. i. 435 (heading) Ordinary methods of testing or ‘refracting’ saltpetre.
5. transitive. Ophthalmology. To measure, and often also to correct with lenses, the refractive error of (an eye) or the eyes of (a person). Also intransitive: to make such measurements or corrections. Cf. refraction n. 8.
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the world > health and disease > healing > ophthalmology or optometry > practise ophthalmology or optometrics [verb (transitive)] > measure focussing characteristics
refract1897
1897 J. Thorington Retinoscopy v. 45 To give a patient thus refracted with the retinoscope his emmetropic correction..an allowance must always be made, in all meridians, of one diopter.
1904 J. Thorington Refraction (ed. 3) ix. 235 The [manifest] method by which the eyes of patients past forty-five years of age are refracted.
1953 N. Bier Contact Lens Routine & Pract. iv. 56 If the measurements..in the corneal fit were 8·75/13, do not refract with a trial lens of 8 mm radius and 13 mm diameter.
1968 Sci. Jrnl. Dec. 21/1 Normally when ‘refracting’ human patients an ophthalmologist relies on verbal reports and applies corrective lenses until the subject says that he sees most clearly.
2006 Jrnl. Cataract & Refractive Surg. 32 371/2 The cataract is removed and the patient is refracted 30 minutes later.
Derivatives
reˈfractable adj. rare capable of being refracted; susceptible to refraction.
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the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > change of direction of movement > [adjective] > deviating from straight course > able to be diverted
refractable1676
deviable1902
divertible1928
the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > light > refraction > [adjective] > capable of being refracted
refrangible1672
refractable1676
refractive1812
1676 H. More Remarks 2 Disc. 100 For as bodies are only tangible, so they are only reflexible and refractable.
1968 Limnol. & Oceanogr. 13 393/2 This luminous absorption is also perfectly in accord with the absorption of thermal and chemical radiations: the first of these being less refractable, is stopped by the water.
2007 Weekly Standard (Nexis) 17 Sept. (Books & Arts section) Academic historians might reject narrative and even chronology as artificial impositions on a messy and endlessly refractable reality.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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