COMPLEMENT

That which fills up or completes; the quantity or number required to fill a thing or make it complete.

That which is required to supply a deficiency, or to complete a symmetrical whole. History is the complement of poetry. Sir J. Stephen.

Full quantity, number, or amount; a complete set; completeness. To exceed his complement and number appointed him which was one hundred and twenty persons. Hakluyt.

A second quantity added to a given quantity to make equal to a third given quantity.

Something added for ornamentation; an accessory. [Obs.] Without vain art or curious complements. Spenser.

The whole working force of a vessel.

The interval wanting to complete the octave; -- the fourth is the complement of the fifth, the sixth of the third.

A compliment. [Obs.] Shak. Arithmetical compliment of a logarithm. See under Logarithm. -- Arithmetical complement of a number (Math.), the difference between that number and the next higher power of 10; as, 4 is the complement of 6, and 16 of 84. -- Complement of an arc or angle (Geom.), the difference between that arc or angle and 90º. -- Complement of a parallelogram. (Math.) See Gnomon. -- In her complement (Her.), said of the moon when represented as full.

To supply a lack; to supplement. [R.]

To compliment. [Obs.] Jer. Taylor.