Emily Dickinson Lexicon

RE-FLEC'TION, n. [from reflect.]

1. The act of throwing back; as, the reflection of light or colors. The angle of incidence and the angle of reflection are always equal.
2. The act of bending back. – Bentley.
3. That which is reflected. As the sun in water we can bear, / Yet not the sun, but his reflection there. – Dryden.
4. The operation of the mind by which it turns its views back upon itself and its operations; the review or reconsideration of past thoughts, opinions or decisions of the mind, or of past events. – Encyc.
5. Thought thrown back on itself, on the past or on the absent; as, melancholy reflections; delightful reflections. Job's reflections on his once flourishing estate, at the same time afflicted and encouraged him. – Atterbury.
6. The expression of thought.
7. Attentive consideration; meditation; contemplation. This delight grows and improves under thought and reflection. – South.
8. Censure; reproach cast. He died, and oh! may no reflection shed / Its pois'nous venom on the royal dead. – Prior.