Deflect

n. [Lat. deflecto -de, and flecto, to bend. See FLEXIBLE.] To deviate from a true course or right line; to swerve. -v. a. To turn down or aside; to turn or bend from a IMG:content-0540.png:[blocks in formation] (Naut.) The departure of a ship from its true course. ( Phys .) The change of form produced in a beam when its upper surface becomes depre ed below its original level line, whether caused by an extraneous weight, or merely by that of the unsupported portion of the beam itself. The laws which regulate the D. of beams have been thus stated by Coulomb: 1. The D. below the natural level is proportional to the weight; 2. The weight required to produce depre ion is proportional to the width of the bar, but in the ratio of the cube of the depth; 3. It is in the inverse ratio of the cube of the length. (Gun.) The D. of a projectile, at any point of its flight, is its perpendicular distance, measured horizontally at that point, from a vertical plane pa ing through the prolongation of the axis of the piece from which it is fired. (Optics.) Same as DIFFRACTION, q. v.