Search the Dictionary

nible by the mind; not easily apprehended. Almost imperceptible to the touch. Dryden. Its operation is slow, and in some cases almost imperceptible. Burke. -- Im`per*cep"ti*ble*ness, n. -- Im`per*cep"ti*bly, adv. Their . . . subility and imperceptibleness. Sir M. Hale.

ow'd his enemy king, and did him service, Improper for a slave. Shak. And to their proper operation still, Ascribe all Good; to their improper, Ill. Pope.

Operation. [Obs.]

Recently, or just, begun; beginning; partially but not fully in existence or operation; existing in its elements; incomplete. -- In"cho*ate*ly, adv. Neither a substance perfect, nor a substance inchoate. Raleigh.

Not cognizant; failing to apprehended or notice. Of the several operations themselves, as acts of volition, we are wholly incognizant. Sir W. Hamilton.

ly to the whole which they constitute, or into which they may be united collectively; the operation of discovering and proving general propositions; the scientific method. -- Philosophical induction, the inference, or the act of inferring, that what has been observed or established in respect to a part, individual, or…

xamination and punishment of heretics, fully established by Pope Gregory IX. in 1235. Its operations were chiefly confined to Spain, Portugal, and their dependencies, and a part of Italy.

To draw in by the operation of breathing; to inhale; -- opposed to expire. Forced to inspire and expire the air with difficulty. Harvey.

To subject to the operation of integration; to find the integral of.

The operation of finding the primitive function which has a given function for its differential coefficient. See Integral.

The method or operation of finding from a few given terms of a series, as of numbers or observations, other intermediate terms in conformity with the law of the series.

The act of pouring into a vessel; specif. (Med.), the operation of introducing a substance into a blood vessel; as, intrafusion of blood.

Opposite in nature and effect; -- said with reference to any two operations, which, when both are performed in succession upon any quantity, reproduce that quantity; as, multiplication is the inverse operation to division. The symbol of an inverse operation is the symbol of the direct operation with -1 as an index. Thu…

The act or process of irrigating, or the state of being irrigated; especially, the operation of causing water to flow over lands, for nourishing plants.

The act of judging; the operation of the mind, involving comparison and discrimination, by which a knowledge of the values and relations of thins, whether of moral qualities, intellectual concepts, logical propositions, or material facts, is obtained; as, by careful judgment he avoided the peril; by a series of wrong j…

An instrument for dividing the cornea in operations for cataract.

The operation of removing a cataract by thrusting a needle through the cornea of the eye, and breaking up the opaque mass.

Formed or pronounced by the cooperation of the lips and teeth, as f and v. -- n.

A plastic operation for making a new lip, or for replacing a lost tissue of a lip.

biological laboratory. Hence, by extension, a place where something is prepared, or some operation is performed; as, the liver is the laboratory of the bile.