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under Law. -- Positive motion (Mach.), motion which is derived from a driver through unyielding intermediate pieces, or by direct contact, and not through elastic connections, nor by means of friction, gravity, etc.; definite motion. -- Positive philosophy. See Positivism. -- Positive pole. (a) (Elec.) The pole of a…

To acquaint previously or beforehand. Fielding.

Affording entrance; receptive; yielding; willing; open; prompt. [Obs.] " Pregnant to good pity." Shak.

Roguery; thievery. [Obs.] Fielding.

Having the quality or power of producing; yielding or furnishing results; as, productive soil; productive enterprises; productive labor, that which increases the number or amount of products.

Yielding or bringing profit or gain; gainful; lucrative; useful; helpful; advantageous; beneficial; as, a profitable trade; profitable business; a profitable study or profession. What was so profitable to the empire became fatal to the emperor. Arbuthnot. -- Prof"it*a*ble*ness, n. -- Prof"it*a*bly, adv.…

Any one of several plants yielding a red pigment which is used by the North American Indians, as the bloodroot and two species of Lithospermum (L. hirtum, and L. canescens); also, the pigment itself.

Of the nature of a quagmire; yielding or trembling under the foot, as soft, wet earth; spongy; boggy. "O'er the watery strath, or quaggy moss." Collins.

Yielding or trembling under the feet, as moist or boggy ground; shaking; moving. "The queachy fens." "Godwin's queachy sands." Drayton.

Sand easily moved or readily yielding to pressure; especially, a deep mass of loose or moving sand mixed with water, sometimes found at the mouth of a river or along some coasts, and very dangerous, from the difficulty of extricating a person who begins sinking into it. Life hath quicksands, -- Life hath snares! Longfe…

iate use; causing no delay for lack of being prepared or furnished. "Dinner was ready." Fielding. My oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. Matt. xxii. 4.

Crying for mercy, as a combatant in the trial by battle; yielding; cowardly; mean-spirited; craven. "This recreant knight." Spenser.

A large vein of auriferous quartz; -- so called in Australia. Hence, any body of rock yielding valuable ore. Reef builder (Zoöl.), any stony coral which contributes material to the formation of coral reefs. -- Reef heron (Zoöl.), any heron of the genus Demigretta; as, the blue reef heron (D.jugularis) of Australia.…

veness; insensible to the distresses of others; destitute of tenderness; unrelenting; unyielding; unpitying; as, a prey to relentless despotism. For this the avenging power employs his darts,.. Thus will persist, relentless in his ire. Dryden. -- Re*lent"less*ly, adv. -- Re*lent"less*ness, n.

Submissive; yielding; not disposed to resist or murmur. A firm, yet cautious mind; Sincere, thought prudent; constant, yet resigned. Pope.

Yielding resin; as, a resiniferous tree or vessel.

The quality of not yielding to force or external pressure; that power of a body which acts in opposition to the impulse or pressure of another, or which prevents the effect of another power; as, the resistance of the air to a body passing through it; the resistance of a target to projectiles.

That makes him a resolved enemy. Jer. Taylor. I am resolved she shall not settle here. Fielding.

To go back in thought, narration, or argument. "But to return to my story." Fielding.

Yielding reward. [R.]