his nails are bent back and lengthened into claws

rĕ-flecto, xi, xum, 3, v. a. and n.

Act., to bend or turn back or backwards; to turn about or away (class.).

Lit.:

caudam canum degeneres sub alvum reflectunt,

Plin. 11, 50, 111, § 265; 11, 37, 78, § 199:

caput leviter,

Cat. 45, 10:

pedem inde (sc. ex Labyrintho) sospes,

id. 64, 112; cf.:

gressum,

to go back, return. Sen. Thyest. 428:

cursum subito ad Contrebiam,

Val. Max. 7, 4, 5 fin.:

colla,

Verg. A. 11, 622:

oculos,

Ov. M. 7, 341; cf.:

visus,

Val. Fl. 5, 455. — Part. perf.:

(elephantorum) dentes reflexi,

tusks. Plin. 11, 37, 62, § 165; so,

cornu (with adunco aere),

Sen. Oedip. 731:

cornicula (scarabaei),

Plin. 30, 11, 30, § 100: cervix. Verg. A. 10, 535; Ov. A. A. 3, 779: [p. 1547] Stat. Achill. 1, 382. —

Mid.: illam tereti cervice reflexam,

bending herself back, Verg. A. 8, 633; cf.:

telum reflexum,

Sil. 16, 54; and poet.: (Ascalaphus) in caput crescit, longosque reflectitur ungues, he bends himself back into long claws, i. e. his nails are bent back and lengthened into claws, Ov. M. 5, 547. —

Trop., to turn back, bring back: quem neque fides, neque jusjurandum... Repressit neque reflexit, * Ter. Ad. 3, 2, 9; cf.:

nonnumquam animum incitatum ad ulciscendam orationem tuam revoco ipse et reflecto,

Cic. Sull. 16, 46:

quibus (causis) mentes aut incitantur aut reflectuntur,

id. de Or. 1, 12, 53:

aliquem,

Sen. Agam. 155:

animum reflexi,

i. e. I reflected within myself, Verg. A. 2, 741; cf.:

mentem ad Romanam urbem,

Mamert. Grat. Act. 14:

in melius tua, qui potes, orsa reflectas!

change, alter, Verg. A. 10, 632; to reverse a proposition or inference:

reflexim inferre,

App. Dogm. Plat. 3, p. 36, 5; cf. Mart. Cap. 4, § 411. —

Neutr., to bend or turn back; trop., to give way, yield:

ubi jam morbi reflexit causa,

Lucr. 3, 502.