mirror

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A reflecting surface that forms an image; it may be either flat (which simply inverts an image side-to-side), concave, or convex. Telescope mirrors are coated on their front surface (unlike everyday mirrors that are coated at the back) by aluminizing. Because astronomical images need to be sharp, the surface shape of the mirror must be very precise; typically, it should not alter the reflected wave-front of light by more than one-quarter of a wavelength of light across its entire surface. New techniques, including segmented mirrors and active optics, have enabled the construction of telescopes with mirrors up to 10 m in diameter. Mirrors up to 10 times larger are envisaged over the next decade (see also extremely large telescope).

Background

From the earliest recorded history, humans have been fascinated by reflections. Narcissus was supposedly bewitched by his own reflection in a pool of water, and magic powers are ascribed to mirrors in fairy tales. Mirrors have advanced from reflective pools and polished metal surfaces to clear glass handheld and bathroom mirrors. They have been used in interior decoration since the 17th century, and reflective surfaces on cars and in hotel lobbies are still popular in modern design. Mirrors are used for practical purposes as well: examining our appearance, examining what is behind us on the road, building skyscrapers, and making scientific research instruments, such as microscopes and lasers.

The nature of modernn mirrors is not fundamentally different from a pool of water. When light strikes any surface, some of it will be reflected. Mirrors are simply smooth surfaces with shiny, dark backgrounds that reflect very well. Water reflects well, glass reflects poorly, and polished metal reflects extremely well. The degree of reflectivity—how much light bounces off of a surface—and the diffusivity of a surface—what direction light bounces off of a surface—may be altered. These alterations are merely refinements, however. In general, all reflective surfaces, and hence, all mirrors, are really the same in character.

Man-made mirrors have been in existence since ancient times. The first mirrors were often sheets of polished metal and were used almost exclusively by the ruling classes. Appearance often reflected, and in some cases determined, position and power in society, so the demand for looking glasses was high, as was the demand for the improvement of mirror-making techniques. Silvering—the process of coating the back of a glass sheet with melted silver—became the most popular method for making mirrors in the 1600s. The glass used in these early mirrors was often warped, creating a ripple in the image. In some severe cases, the images these mirrors reflected were similar to those we'd see in a fun-house mirror today. Modern glassmaking and metallurgical techniques make it easy to produce sheets of glass that are very flat and uniformly coated on the back, improving image clarity tremendously. Still, the quality of a mirror depends on the time and materials expended to make it. A handheld purse mirror may reflect a distorted image, while a good bathroom mirror will probably have no noticeable distortions. Scientific mirrors are designed with virtually no imperfections or distorting qualities whatsoever.

Materials technology drastically affects the quality of a mirror. Light reflects best from surfaces that are non-diffusive, that is, smooth and opaque, rather than transparent. Any flaw in this arrangement will detract from the effectiveness of the mirror. Innovations in mirror making have been directed towards flattening the glass used and applying metal coatings of uniform thickness, because light traveling through different thicknesses of glass over different parts of a mirror results in a distorted image. It is due to these irregularities that some mirrors make you look thinner and some fatter than normal. If the metal backing on a mirror is scratched or thin in spots, the brightness of the reflection will also be uneven. If the coating is very thin, it may be possible to see through the mirror. This is how one-way mirrors are made. Non-opaque coating is layered over the thin, metal backing and only one side of the mirror (the reflecting side) is lit. This allows a viewer on the other side, in a darkened room, to see through.

Raw Materials

Glass, the main component of mirrors, is a poor reflector. It reflects only about 4 percent of the light which strikes it. It does, however, possess the property of uniformity, particularly when polished. This means that the glass contains very few pits after polishing and will form an effective base for a reflective layer of metal. When the metal layer is deposited, the surface is very even, with no bumps or wells. Glass is also considered a good material for mirrors because it can be molded into various shapes for specialty mirrors. Glass sheets are made from silica, which can be mined or refined from sand. Glass made from natural crystals of silica is known as fused quartz. There are also synthetic glasses, which are referred to as synthetic fused silica. The silica, or quartz, is melted to high temperatures, and poured or rolled out into sheets.

A few other types of glass are used for high-quality scientific grade mirrors. These usually contain some other chemical component to strengthen the glass or make it resistant to certain environmental extremes. Pyrex, for example, is a borosilicate glass—a glass composed of silica and boron—that is used when mirrors must withstand high temperatures.

In some cases, a plastic substrate will do as well as a glass one. In particular, mirrors on children's toys are often made this way, so they don't break as easily. Plastic polymers are manufactured from petroleum and other organic chemicals. They can be injection molded into any desired shape, including flat sheets and circles, and can be opaque or transparent as the design requires.

These base materials must be coated to make a mirror. Metallic coatings are the most common. A variety of metals, such as silver, gold, and chrome, are appropriate for this application. Silver was the most popular mirror backing one hundred years ago, leading to the coinage of the term "silvering." Old silver-backed mirrors often have dark lines behind the glass, however, because the material was coated very thinly and unevenly, causing it to flake off, scratch or tarnish. More recently, before 1940, mirror manufacturers used mercury because it spread evenly over the surface of the glass and did not tarnish. This practice was also eventually abandoned, for it posed the problem of sealing in the toxic liquid. Today, aluminum is the most commonly used metallic coating for mirrors.

Scientific grade mirrors are sometimes coated with other materials, like silicon oxides and silicon nitrides, in up to hundreds of layers of, each a 10,000th of an inch thick. These types of coatings, referred to as dielectric coatings, are used both by themselves as reflectors, and as protective finishes on metallic coatings. They are more scratch resistant than metal. Scientific mirrors also use silver coatings, and sometimes gold coatings as well, to reflect light of a particular color of light more or less well.

Design

Surface regularity is probably the most important design characteristic of mirrors. Mirrors for household use must meet roughly the same specifications as window panes and picture frame glass. The glass sheets used must be reasonably flat and durable. The designer need only specify the thickness required; for example, thicker mirrors are more durable, but they are also heavier. Scientific mirrors usually have specially designed surfaces. These surfaces must be uniformly smooth within several lOOOths of an inch, and can be designed with a specific curvature, just like eyeglass lenses. The design principle for these mirrors is the same as that of eyewear: a mirror may be intended to focus light as well as reflect it.

The mirror design will also specify the type of coating to be used. Coating material is chosen based on required durability and reflectivity and, depending on the intended purpose of the mirror, it may be applied on the front or back surface of the mirror. Any subsequent layers of protective coatings must also be specified at this stage. For most common mirrors, the reflective coating will be applied on the back surface of the glass because it is less likely to be harmed there. The back side is then frequently mounted in a plastic or metal frame so as to entirely seal the coating from the air and sharp objects.

For scientific use, the color, or wavelength of light, which the mirror will reflect must be considered. For standard visible light or ultraviolet light mirrors, aluminum coatings are common. If the mirror is to be used with infrared light, a silver or gold coating is best. Dielectric coatings are also good in the infrared range. Ultimately, however, the choice of coating will depend on durability as well as wavelength range, and some reflectivity may be sacrificed for resilience. A dielectric coating, for example, is much more scratch resistant than a metallic coating and, despite the additional cost, these coatings are often added on top of metal to protect it. Coatings on scientific grade mirrors are usually applied on the front surface of the glass, because light which travels through glass will always distort to a small degree. This is undesirable in most scientific applications.

The Manufacturing
Process

Cutting and shaping the glass

• The first step in manufacturing any mirror is cutting the outline of the glass "blank" to suit the application. If the mirror is for an automobile, for example, the glass will be cut out to fit in the mirror mount on the car. Although some mirror manufacturers cut their own glass, others receive glass that has already been cut into blanks. Regardless of who cuts the glass, very hard, finely pointed blades are used to do the cutting. Diamond scribes or saws—sharp metal points or saws with diamond dust embedded in them—are often used because the diamond will wear down the glass before the glass wears down the diamond. The cutting method used depends entirely on the final shape the mirror will take. In one method, the blades or scribes may be used to cut partway through the glass; pressure can then be used to break the glass along the score line. In another method, a machine uses a diamond saw to cut all the way through the glass by drawing the blade back and forth or up and down multiple times, like an automated bandsaw. Cutting is usually done before the metal coating is applied, because the coating may flake off the glass as a result of the cut. An alternative to cutting the glass to form blanks is to mold the glass in its molten state.
• Blanks are then placed in optical grinding machines. These machines consist of large base plates full of depressions that hold the blanks. The blank-filled base is placed against another metal plate with the desired surface shape: flat, convex, or concave. A grinding compound—a gritty liquid—is spread over the glass blanks as they are rubbed or rolled against the curved surface. The action is similar to grinding spices with a mortar and pestle. The grit in the compound gradually wears away the glass surface until it assumes the same shape as the grinding plate. Finer and finer grits are used until the surface is very smooth and even.

  Hand grinding techniques exist as well, but they are extremely time-consuming and difficult to control. They are only used in cases where mechanical grinding would be impossible, as is the case with very large or unusually shaped surfaces. A commercial optical grinder can accommodate 50 to 200 blanks, which are all polished simultaneously. This is much more efficient than hand grinding. Even specialty optics can be made mechanically in adjustable equipment.

Applying the reflective material

• When the glass surfaces are shaped appropriately and polished to a smooth finish, they are coated with whatever reflective material the designer has chosen. Regardless of the coating material, it is applied in an apparatus called an evaporator. The evaporator is a large vacuum chamber with an upper plate for supporting the blank mirrors, and a lower crucible for melting the coating metal. It is so called because metal is heated in the crucible to the point that it evaporates into the vacuum, depositing a coating on the surface of the glass much like hot breath will steam a cold window. Blanks are centered over holes in the upper plate that allow the metal vapor to reach the surface of the glass. Metals can be heated to several hundreds or thousands of degrees (depending on the boiling point of the metal), before they vaporize. The temperature and timing for this procedure are controlled very precisely to achieve exactly the right thickness of metal. This method of coating creates very uniform and highly reflective surfaces.
• The shape of the holes in the upper plate will be transferred to the glass in metal, like paint through a stencil. This effect is often used to intentionally pattern the mirror. Metal stencils, or masks, can be applied to the surface of the glass to create one or more patterns.
• Dielectric coatings—either as reflective layers or as protective layers over metal ones—are applied in much the same way, except that gases are used instead of metal chunks. Silicon oxides and silicon nitrides are typically used as dielectric coatings. When these gases combine in extreme heat, they react to form a solid substance. This reaction product forms a coating just like metal does.
• Several evaporation steps may be combined to make a multiple-layer coating. Clear dielectric materials may be evaporated on top of metal or other dielectrics to change the reflective or mechanical properties of a surface. Mirrors with silvering on the back of the glass, for instance, often have an opaque dielectric layer applied to improve the reflectivity and keep the metal from scratching. One-way mirrors are the exception to this procedure, in which case great care must be taken not to damage the thin metal coating.
• Finally, when the proper coatings have been applied, the finished mirror is mounted in a base or packed carefully in a shock resistant package for shipping.

Quality Control

How good does a mirror have to be? Is it sufficient to have 80 percent of the light bounce off? Does all 80 percent have to bounce in exactly the same direction? The answer is dependent on the application. A purse mirror might only be 80 or 90 percent reflective, and might have some slight irregularity in the thickness of the glass (like ripples on the surface of a pond). The image would be slightly distorted in this case, but the distortion would be barely visible to the naked eye. If, however, a mirror is to be used for a scientific application, for example in a telescope, the shape of the surface and the reflectivity of the coating must be known to a very specific degree, to insure the reflected light goes exactly where the telescope designer wants it, and at the right intensity. The tolerances on the mirror will affect the cost and ease with which it can be manufactured.

Batch mirror uniformity is the first and fore-most job of quality assurance. Mirrors on the edge of a grinding plate or evaporator chamber may not have the same surface or coating as those in the center of the apparatus. If there is a wide range of metal thicknesses or surface flatnesses in a single batch of mirrors, the process must be adjusted to improve uniformity.

Several methods are employed to test the integrity of a mirror. The surface quality is examined first visually for scratches, unevenness, pits, or ripples. This can be done with the unaided eye, with a microscope, or with an infrared photographic process designed to show differences in metal thicknesses.

For more stringent surface control, a profile of the mirror can be measured by running a stylus along the surface. The position of the stylus is recorded as it is dragged across the mirror. This is similar to the way a record player works. Like the record player, the drawback to a mechanical stylus is that it can damage the surface it is detecting. Mirror manufacturers have come to the same solution as the recording industry: use a laser. The laser can be used for non-destructive testing in the same way a compact disc player reads the music from a disc without altering its surface.

In addition to these mechanical tests, mirrors may be exposed to a variety of environmental conditions. Car mirrors, for example, are taken through extremes of cold and heat to insure that they will withstand weather conditions, while bathroom mirrors are tested for water resistance.

The Future

As glassmaking techniques improve, mirrors find a more elaborate place in art and architecture. Stronger, lighter glasses are more attractive to designers. Some one-way mirror manufacturing techniques allow windows to be manufactured that are mirrored on the outside. This creates a distinctive appearance on a building and also makes the building's air conditioning system more efficient by deflecting heat during the summer. This type of mirror is now commonly seen on office buildings.

Mirrors will also continue to be used in sophisticated optical applications, from microscopes and telescopes to laser-based reading systems such as compact disc players and bar code scanners.

Where To Learn More

Books

Hecht, Eugene. Optics. Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., 1974.

Korsch, Dietrich. Reflective Optics. Academic Press, 1991.

Londono, ed. Recent Trends in Optical Systems Design: Computer Lens Design. SPIE-International Society for Optical Engineering, 1987.

Periodicals

Derra, Skip. "Spin Casting Method Makes the Grade for Telescopic Mirrors." Research & Development. August, 1989, p. 24.

Folger, Tim and Roger Ressmeyer. "The Big Eye." Discover. November, 1991, p. 40.

Hogan, Brian J. "Astronomy Gets a Sharper Vision." Design News. August 26, 1991, p. 110.

"Custom Optics." Laser Focus World. December, 1992.

Nash, J. Madeline. "Shoot for the Stars." Time. April 27, 1992, p. 56.

Walker, Jearl. "Wonders with the Retroreflector, a Mirror That Removes Distortion from a Light Beam." Scientific American. April, 1986, p. 118.

[Article by: Leslie G. Melcer]

Mirrors answer the desire to behold one's own image — to see oneself as others do. Optically speaking, a mirror is a reflecting surface that forms an image when light rays deflected by an object fall upon it. Nature provided the model: the reflective surface of still water, into which Narcissus so famously gazed. Both the absorption of Narcissus in himself — his vanity — and his fascination with himself as other are central to the mythology of mirrors. When mirrors allow us to see ourselves as others do, they are capable, at best, of initiating a sense of self and identity in the world (as per the psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan, who developed the theory of the ‘mirror stage’ of human development) — and, at worst, of engendering that self-reflexive form of love called vanity.

The earliest known man-made mirrors, circular discs of highly polished obsidian, were discovered in a Neolithic settlement in Anatolia, Turkey, and date to about 6000 bce. Subsequently, discs made of copper and bronze — some with handles, some with stands — made their appearance throughout the Near East. Many of the mirrors of antiquity that have been unearthed appear to have served a religious purpose. The handles of several bronze and silver mirrors dating to c.2000 bce were papyrus-shaped, and resemble the handles of divine standards. Other handles are carved in the form of deities or, as in the case of several Late Period (c.750-332 bce) gilded-silver mirror handles, of four goddesses encircling a papyrus-shaped column.

The ancient Greeks developed the stand mirror — the bottom of whose handle was large enough to serve as a base — and the box mirror, the prototype of the twentieth-century powder compact. The lids of the latter type were frequently decorated with mythological and/or erotic scenes. The glass wall mirror seems to have gained popularity among the Romans around the first century bce. Through trade with the Roman Empire, mirrors found their way to the Indian subcontinent.

In China, mirrors came into use around 2000 bce. Like those of Egypt and Greece, early Chinese mirrors are typically round, made of bronze, and decorated on the back. Throughout much of Asia, mirrors were and still are thought to have the power to avert evil. As a result, mirrors were often buried with the dead, and mirrors are still to be seen on the exterior of South Asian temples: hideous demons, catching sight of themselves, will flee in fright.

In the Christianized West, on the contrary, soulless beings—vampires, werewolves, demons, and the like—were thought to show no reflection in a mirror. The reverse of this superstition was the belief that, after a death in the house, mirrors could hold the souls of the living and detain the soul of the deceased in its flight from the body. Enlightened physicians refused to be daunted, and it became a tradition for a mirror to be placed close to the mouth or nose of a moribund person to determine, by the misting of the mirror, whether the person was still breathing. A mirror-soul link persists in the taboo on breaking a mirror, which is popularly believed to bring seven years of bad luck. In some cultures, placing the shards in running water is thought to mitigate the harm.

In Europe throughout the Middle Ages, the possession of mirrors was limited to those of great wealth or high station. Various reflecting surfaces were used: polished metallic rocks such as obsidian, pyrite, and iron; rock crystal; and an alloy of rose copper and tin, plus an alchemical brew consisting of white arsenic, red tartar, and nitre. Meanwhile, artisans explored the effects of altering the surface, from flat to concave or convex. The Dutch painter Jan van Eyck (c.1390-1441) incorporated a wall-mounted convex mirror to stunning effect in his double portrait, The Arnolfini Wedding (London, National Gallery), painted in 1434. The reflection serves not only to capture elements of the interior not otherwise in view (for example, the backsides of the couple, who face the viewer) but also to document the presence of two additional figures just visible in the reflection (one of whom is presumed to be the painter himself) as witnesses to the event taking place in the painting, which is thought to be the betrothal of the Arnolfini couple. Mirrors were subsequently included in numerous Flemish paintings, as homage to the naturalism of van Eyck, and to its capacity to replicate the surfaces of the visible world.

During the latter half of the fifteenth century, the glassmakers of Venice developed a clear, colourless glass called cristallo, which, backed with a coating of tin or mercury, provided a clearer reflection than previous mirrors. By the seventeenth century, Venice and the island of Murano were exporting mirror glass throughout Europe and as far east as the Indian subcontinent. The rage for mirrors reached an apogee in the construction of the great Hall of Mirrors at Louis XIV's palace at Versailles, completed in 1678; here the Sun King's magnificence could be endlessly reflected.

Throughout the later Middle Ages and the Renaissance, numerous books carried the word mirror in their titles (much as newspapers still do today—The Daily Mirror, or the Tagesspiegel), and the mirror also acquired a certain iconographical power in the visual arts. Mirrors were employed as symbols of truth, of deception, and of vanity. In all three cases, the mirror is thought to bear a particular relation to appearances, which may or may not be deceptive. In recent times, too, much has been made of over-investment (particularly by women) in the image of oneself encountered in the mirror. Deception by mirrors has a basis in optical principles, in so far as reflections in mirrors do not correspond wholly to the objects that caused them. This can easily be demonstrated by tracing the contour of the reflection of one's head in a mirror; the reflection may correspond in proportion, but will generally be half in actual size. Moreover, mirror images are two-dimensional; bodies are not.

The craft of mirror-making has made prodigious strides since the days when the Murano glassmakers painstakingly ground and polished glass until the surface was completely smooth, or for a convex mirror (such as the one whose properties van Eyck explored) carefully cut from a blown bubble as it was hardening. While fine mirrors are still made by these methods, most mirrors are made of ‘float glass’, a ribbon of glass that is run out of the furnace along the surface of a bath of molten tin. By controlling the temperature of both elements, both surfaces can be made perfectly flat. Generally speaking, there are three types of mirrors: the plane — which has a flat surface, the convex, and the concave — the latter two known collectively as spherical mirrors, because their surfaces are usually part of a sphere. Amusement park mirrors exploit the properties of spherical mirrors, bloating or shrinking and otherwise distorting the figures reflected in them.

The invention of the reflex camera in which a mirrored surface allows one to see exactly the image that will be captured on film, was a monumental advance, as it allows for the production of photographic images that actually correspond to what is viewed through the lens of the camera. Another technological application of mirrors, in telescopes, has allowed for enormous expansion of our visual horizon. Human interest in mirrors ultimately depends on cultural and technological faith in images, and the ability to correlate our understanding of things as they are with things as they appear.

— Claudia Swan

noun

One that is worthy of imitation or duplication: beau ideal, example, exemplar, ideal, model, paradigm, pattern, standard. See good/bad.

verb

1. To send back or form an image of: image, reflect. See show/hide.
2. To copy (another) slavishly: echo, image, imitate, mimic, parrot, reflect, repeat. See same/different/compare.

The looking-glass is one of the handful of domestic items which have attracted more than their fair share of beliefs. Opie and Tatem identify fourteen different superstitions, and unlike those associated with the fire, many of them can be shown to date back a long time. One of the best-known and often-quoted superstitions of the late 20th century is that breaking a mirror brings seven years bad luck, and this was the third most often reported item in our Superstitions Survey 1998/9. The earliest known reference to this being unlucky comes from 1777, and it has been regularly reported ever since, but the ‘seven years’ is not mentioned until the mid-19th century (Sternberg, 1851: 172). Previous to that time, it was said to mean a death, or simply to be very unlucky. Sternberg is also the first to advise against letting a baby see itself in a mirror, which is subsequently reported from all over England—the result varying from bad luck, contracting rickets, or becoming cross-eyed. Young women especially have traditionally been warned against spending too much time looking at themselves in the mirror by stories that they will see the Devil if they do: ‘Some years since I knew a very proud maid in Cambridge, an Alderman's daughter, who running to the looking-glass to view her self, as soon as ever she came home from hearing a sermon upon a Sabbath-Day she thought with her self that she saw the devil in the looking-glass, and thereupon fell distracted … ’(1691, quoted Opie and Tatem, 1989:252).

The danger of seeing something you would rather not appears to be at the root of the custom of covering mirrors in a house when someone dies. The first known reference to this is in Orkney in 1786, and most of the recorded instances in England are to the northern counties. There are also one or two references to covering mirrors in the rooms of sick people. More common is the practice of covering mirrors in a thunderstorm, although this is not reported before 1900. In another context, however, gazing into the mirror will reveal your future spouse, if you do it correctly. First mentioned by Burton, Anatomy of Abuses (1660), this form of love divination has been reported up into the 20th century in various versions (Burne, 1883: 381).

More serious divination with a mirror, or other reflective surface, dates back to classical and biblical times, is mentioned in Britain since at least the 14th century, and is the basis for the modern cliché of the crystal-ball gazer. Reginald Scot (1584: book 13, chapter 19) pours scorn on the practices and illusions of those who purport to tell the future with a glass: ‘But the woonderous devises, and miraculous sights and conceipts made and conteined in glasse, do farre exceed all other.’ Similarly, John Aubrey recorded the trial and execution of a witch at Salisbury, about 1649, who ‘shewed people visions in a glasse, and that a maid saw the devill with her, with whom she made a contract and that she knew 'twas the devill by his cloven foot… ‘(Aubrey, 1686: 261).

See also GLASSES, DRINKING.

Bibliography
The full bibliography list is available here.

• Opie and Tatem, 1989:249-53
• Roud, 2003: 289, 309-10

1. A nearly perfect reflecting surface.
2. A small oval ornament surrounded by a molding.

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IN BRIEF: A reflective glass.

There are two ways of spreading the light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it. — Edith Wharton (1862-1937).

LearnThatWord.com is a free vocabulary and spelling program where you only pay for results!

sign description: One flat hand is held in front of the face with the palm of the hand towards the face. The hand makes a twisting motion.

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The mirror reflects oneself from the inner depths. If the mirror is clear, one is gazing upon one's true self. This may be a shocking or a pleasant experience, depending upon how many shortcomings or false images the dreamer presents in the real world. A cracked or cloudy mirror reflects the distortions that are projected into the world.

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The now-popular idea that vampires cast no reflection in a mirror (and often have an intense aversion to them) seems to have first been put forward in Bram Stoker's novel, Dracula Soon after his arrival at Castle Dracula Jonathan Harker observed that the building was devoid of mirrors. When Dracula silently came into Harker's room while he was shaving, Harker noticed that Dracula, who was standing behind him, did not appear in the shaving mirror as he should have. Dracula complained that mirrors were objects of human vanity, and, seizing the shaving mirror, he broke it. When the novel was brought to the stage and the episode in Castle Dracula deleted, the incident of the mirror was transformed into a confrontation between Dracula and Dr. Abraham Van Helsing

The mirror incident does not seem to have any precedent in either vampire folklore or the earlier vampire short stories and dramas although Stoker seemed to have been aware of folklore about mirrors. Mirrors were seen as somehow revealing a person's spiritual double, the soul. In seeing themselves revealed in a mirror, individuals found confirmation that there was a soul and that hence life went on. They also found in the reflection a new source of anxiety, as the mirror could be used negatively to affect the soul. The notion that the image in the mirror was somehow the soul underlay the idea that breaking a mirror brought seven years' bad luck. Breaking the mirror also damaged the soul.

Thus, one could speculate that the vampire had no soul, had nothing to reflect in the mirror. The mirror forced the vampire to confront the nature of his/her existence as the undead, neither living nor dead. On occasion in both vampire fiction and the cinema, the idea of nonreflection in mirrors has been extended to film, that is, the vampire would not appear in photographs if developed.

In her popular reinterpretation of the vampire myth, Anne Rice dropped Stoker's mirror convention. She argued in part that although vampires have certain "supernatural" attributes, they existed in the same physical universe as mortals and generally had to conform to the same physical laws, including those of optics. Hence, in Interview with the Vampire and Vampire Lestat, Louis and Lestat de Lioncourt respectively, saw themselves in a mirror and experienced a moment of self-revelation about their new vampire image. (Of course, Rice's vampires didn't follow all physical laws since they had the ability to fly.)

Goldberg, Benjamin. The Mirror and Man. Charlottesville, VA: University Press of Virginia, 1985. 260 pp.
Ramsland, Katherine. The Vampire Companion. New York: Ballantine Books, 1993. 507 pp.

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(in informatics) an exact copy of a server made at a different location, to spread the load of traffic and hence facilitate access to that server. Busy servers may have many mirrors (e.g. ExPASy).

Previous:	minute, minus strand, minus end
Next:	misacylate, mischarge, miscible

n

A reflective device.

For a list of words related to mirror, see:

• Stones, Bricks, Tiles, Glass, and Metals - mirror: glass coated on one side with reflective substance
• Memory and Data Storage - mirror: (vb) copy on an ongoing basis for security
• Lamps and Mirrors - mirror: reflecting glass surface set in frame, usu. mounted on dresser, door, or wall; glass
• Newspaper Names

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See words rhyming with "mirror."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Mirror.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - spejl
v. tr. - (af)spejle

idioms:

• mirror finish    højglanspolering
• mirror image    spejlbillede
• mirror writing    spejlskrift

Nederlands (Dutch)
spiegel, toonbeeld, weerspiegelen, afspiegelen, navolgen

Français (French)
n. - miroir, glace, (Aut) rétroviseur, (fig) reflet
v. tr. - (lit, fig) refléter, se réfléchir

idioms:

• mirror finish    brillant, peinture brillante
• mirror image    (fig) image inversée
• mirror writing    écriture spéculaire, écriture en miroir

Deutsch (German)
n. - Spiegel
v. - widerspiegeln

idioms:

• mirror finish    Hochglanz
• mirror image    Spiegelbild
• mirror writing    Spiegelschrift

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (οπτ.) καθρέφτης, κάτοπτρο, πιστή απομίμηση
v. - καθρεφτίζω, αντικατοπτρίζω, αντανακλώ

idioms:

• mirror finish    αντανακλαστική επιφάνεια
• mirror image    (οπτ.) εναντιόμορφο είδωλο
• mirror writing    κατοπτρική γραφή (από τα δεξιά προς τα αριστερά)

Italiano (Italian)
riflettere, specchio, riflesso

idioms:

• mirror finish    superficie riflettente
• mirror image    immagine a specchio
• mirror writing    scrittura a specchio

Português (Portuguese)
n. - espelho (m), modelo (m)
v. - espelhar

idioms:

• mirror finish    superfície reflexiva (f)
• mirror image    à imagem e semelhança
• mirror writing    escrita espelhada

Русский (Russian)
зеркало, отображение, зеркальная поверхность, отражать

idioms:

• mirror finish    зеркальная полировка
• mirror image    зеркальное отображение
• mirror writing    зеркальное письмо

Español (Spanish)
n. - espejo, retrovisor, reflejo, ejemplo, modelo
v. tr. - reflejar

idioms:

• mirror finish    superficie reflectora
• mirror image    reflejo exacto, contraimagen
• mirror writing    escritura invertida

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - spegel, mönster
v. - återspegla

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
镜子, 典范, 写真, 反映, 映出

idioms:

• mirror finish    像镜面一样亮的表面
• mirror image    镜像, 映像, 反映, 翻版
• mirror writing    倒写

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 鏡子, 典範, 寫真
v. tr. - 反映, 映出

idioms:

• mirror finish    像鏡面一樣亮的表面
• mirror image    鏡像, 映像, 反映, 翻版
• mirror writing    倒寫

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 거울, 표범
v. tr. - 비추다, 반사하다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 鏡, 反射鏡, 写し出すもの
v. - 映す, 反映させる

idioms:

• mirror finish    ぴかぴかの
• mirror image    鏡像
• mirror writing    逆書き
• rear-view mirror    バックミラー

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) مرآة (فعل) يعكس صورة‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮ראי, מראה, בבואה‬
v. tr. - ‮שיקף בבואה (כמו ראי)‬

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