Deflect
verb
Etymology: it is an adaptation from Latin deflectere (= to bend aside, or downwards); from de- (prefix meaning away, down, off) + flectere (= to bend, turn). It is etymologically and semantically identical to Italian deflettere.
Present third person singular: she/he deflects
Indicative past, past participle: deflected
Present participle: deflecting
Transitively:
Definition: to cause (something moving or mobile) to deviate from its direction
Synonyms: to trend, bend, swerve, redirect
It may be approximately translated by desviar, in Spanish; deviare, in Italian; défléchir, in French.
They are building wing-dams here and there to deflect the current; and dikes to confine it in narrower bounds. Mark Twain (Life on the Mississippi)
A wester or sea-breeze, deflected by the ravines to a norther, was blowing; and in these regions, as in the sub-frigid zones of Europe, wind makes all the difference of temperature. Richard Burton (The Land of Midian)
A pencil of light, deflected from its path by a prism of a denser substance, in different positions. Thomas Young (Course of Lectures…)
"Then float a little, and we can take the exact course of the wind again. The canoe, of course, will continue to go the way the wind goes."
"Unless it's deflected by currents which do not always follow the wind." Joseph A. Altsheler (The Masters of the Peaks)
The buildings were canyon walls of black glass that deflected the light. Albert Wendt (Black rainbow)
I checked the sun to estimate the time, but was disappointed to see that the clouds deflected the light, and I couldn’t determine accurately which way was true west. Clyde A. Landon (His name is Guck)
My heavy coat and thick skin deflected the rest [of pellets], which fell to the floor like hard, uncooked peas. William Jablonsky (The Clockwork Man)
Several giants were hit by these icy projectiles, but their thick skin deflected the weak attacks. Steven R. Burke (The Fallen Guardian)
Dükker realized that he was not going to be able to regain his feet before they were on him, so he summoned his staff to his left hand and put up an energy field that deflected several rocks that had been thrown at him. Steven R. Burke (The Fallen Guardian)
***with the preposition from, before the noun (or pronoun) designative of the direction that the mover had before the deflective action:
The progressive velocity of this gale was also lessened by the same cause which deflected it from its first course. James Imray (The Atlantic navigator)
One theory […] that the Moon was once a planet […], orbiting the Sun rather than Earth, but something, such as a collision with a large asteroid, deflected it from its solar orbit. Stan Gibilisco (Astronomy demystified)
[…] the sun’s gravitational field deflected the light from the stars. Brian Malpass (The Bluffer’s Guide to Science)
Oersted discovered that an electric current would deflect a magnetic needle. George Prescott (The Speaking Telephone)
Intransitively:
(The subject being something moving or mobile) To deviate from its direction
Synonyms: to trend, bend, swerve
It may be approximately translated by desviarse, in Spanish; deflettere, in Italian; défléchir, in French.
Lyra turned to walk toward the house, deflecting a little in the direction of her nephew and Miss Northwick. William Dean Howells (Annie Kilburn)
[Douglas] believed that local [… features] affected auroral shape, with the aurora deflecting to rise higher above mountains. Robert H. Eather (Majestic lights)
A beam of light came out of her, aimed right at Sheridan. Sheridan spread out his cape, and its velvet blackness developed a silver sheen. As the light hit the cape, it flashed brightly like a mirror, and the beam shot off in a wide, long burst of brilliant energy deflected far away. Franklin Newman (The Druidess of Elkaza)
Perhaps he should never again reach the point that he was aware of deflecting from now. William Dean Howells (The Landlord at Lion's Head)
***With the preposition to (the consequent direction), or from (the direction that the mover had before the deflective action):
[Nick] threw a fireball at her, but as it flew through the air, her lavender light protected her. As it crashed into the light, it deflected harmlessly off to the sky, where not one could be harmed by it. Franklin Newman (The Druidess of Elkaza)
[…] the line of descent was not exactly rectilinear, but that each atom deflected a little from the straight line, and each in its own direction and degree. Alexander Bain (Moral Science)
When they were well up the path, in that part of it where it deflects from the drive without approaching the street too closely, and achieves something of seclusion, she said: […] William Dean Howells (Fennel and Rue)
[…] the ray deflects away from the axis. Steven Holzner (Physics II for Dummies)
I rode not directly home to my lodgings, that I might not expose myself in the very strength of my conflict; but deflecting to the right I rode on, neither knowing, or much caring, whitherto my horse would convey me. Mary Richwould (The South sea fortune)
Areas of cooler and heavier air make up a high-pressure system. This cooler air moves downward from a high and, again deflecting to the right in the Northern Hemisphere, moves clockwise. Paul Keith Conkin (The state of the Earth)
A compact disk (CD) is like a phonograph record; there is one track all the way around. The track uses shallow holes known as pits to represent binary digits, either 0 or 1. The way the light deflected from the surface is interpreted by the scanning electronics as 1s or 0s. Michael F. Hordeski (Control technology)
“Phalera,” said the other Amazon, “Do you feel that?” The second Amazon ran out of a door, and headed straight up to the stairs. A small spark of light deflected from some metal object on the floor. Franklin Newman (The Druidess of Elkaza)
***Metaphorically:
His suicide, however corroborative of suspicion, were there found to be deceit in the affidavits, is, without such deceit, in no respect an unaccountable circumstance, or one which need cause us to deflect from the line of ordinary analysis. Edgar Allan Poe
Other English vocables derived from, or compounded with one of the radicals of Latin flectere: flexible, flex (noun, verb), flexibility, flexibleness, flexibly, flexile, flexing, flexion, flection, flexional, flectional, flexionless, flectionless, flexography, flexographic, flexor, flexuose, flexuosity, flexuous, flexuously, flexural, flexure, circumflex (verb, noun), circumflexion, circumflection, flection, flector, flinch (noun, verb), flincher, flinching, flinchingly, inflect, inflecting, inflectable, inflected, inflectedness, inflective, inflexed, inflexibility, inflexible, inflexibleness, inflexibly, inflexion, inflection, inflexionless, inflectionless, inflexional, inflectional, inflexionally, inflectionally, reflect (noun, verb), reflectance, reflected, reflectedly, reflectedness, reflecter, reflectibility, reflectible, reflecting, reflectingly, reflection, reflexion, reflectional, reflectioning, reflectionist, reflectionless, reflective, reflectively, reflectiveness, reflectivity, reflector, reflectored, reflectorially, reflectorize, reflectorized, reflectoscope, unreflected, unreflecting, unreflectingly, unreflectingness, unreflective, uninflected, uninflectedness, unflinching, unflinchingly, exflect, flecnode, flecnodal, genuflect, genuflecting, genuflector, genuflectory, genuflex, genuflexed, genuflexion, genuflection, retroflex, retroflexed, retroflexion, introflexion
Other English vocables derived from deflect: deflect (adj.), deflectable, deflected, deflecting, deflection, deflective, deflector, deflexed, deflexibility, deflexible, deflexion, deflexure