What is the difference between glass and mirror

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What does the Bible say about restoration? Does BBVA have monthly fees? What terminal is American Airlines at Denver? The word glass on its own also often refers to mirrors rather than glass. Hence pier glass , or 'go and look in the glass'. When Perseus slays Medusa, he does so without looking directly at her, instead using his highly polished shield as a mirror. This sense of mirror is reflected so to speak in the first definition of the term in Merriam-Webster's Eleventh Collegiate Dictionary :.

But would it be correct to say that Perseus used his shield as a looking glass? The underlying question here is, How literally should we take the component "glass" in the term looking glass? If looking glasses must be made, in part, of glass, then a metal shield can't be a looking glass, though it can be a mirror. One of the clearest treatments of the differences between mirror and looking-glass appears in Merriam-Webster's [First] International Dictionary of the English Language , which provides distinct definitions for three related terms:.

Looking-glass A mirror made of glass on which has been placed a backing of some reflecting substance, as quicksilver. Mirror A looking-glass or a speculum; any glass or polished substance that forms images by the reflection of rays of light. Speculum 1. A mirror, or looking-glass; especially a metal mirror, as in Greek and Roman archaeology. A reflector of polished metal, especially one used in reflecting telescopes. From these definitions, it appears that late in the nineteenth century, anyway Perseus's shield would have qualified as both a mirror and a speculum, but not as a looking-glass.

The difference between looking glass and mirror is that looking glass , when used as adjective, means being or involving the opposite of what is normal or expected a looking-glass land , looking-glass logic ; mirror can also be figuratively used to mean something regarded as accurately representing something else the stage is supposed to be the mirror of life.

A looking glass is indeed a mirror. As JSBangs alluded to, it is only largely used in literary contexts. Two notable examples book titles are:. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Neice vs. Buisness vs. Beeing vs. Amature vs. Lieing vs. Preferred vs. Omage vs. Finally vs. Attendance vs. Latest Comparisons Tubercule vs.

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