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The principal personage in a poem, story, and the like, or the person who has the principal share in the transactions related; as Achilles in the Iliad, Ulysses in the Odyssey, and Æneas in the Æneid. The shining quality of an epic hero. Dryden. Hero worship, extravagant admiration for great men, likened to the ancient…

The principal female person who figures in a remarkable action, or as the subject of a poem or story.

Having the femoral artery developed as the principal artery of the leg; -- said of certain birds, as the cotingas and pipras.

e Guide to Pronunciation, §§ 10, 11. High admiral, the chief admiral. -- High altar, the principal altar in a church. -- High and dry, out of water; out of reach of the current or tide; -- said of a vessel, aground or beached. -- High and mighty arrogant; overbearing. [Colloq.] -- High art, art which deals with loft…

The posterior of the three principal divisions of the brain, including the epencephalon and metencephalon. Sometimes restricted to the epencephalon only.

xtinct genus of sharks (Hybodus), especially in the form of the teeth, which consist of a principal median cone with smaller lateral ones.

; E. kin, AS. cynn; E. thin, AS. ynne; E. dominion, donjon, dungeon. In English I has two principal vowel sounds: the long sound, as in pine, ice; and the short sound, as in pîn. It has also three other sounds: (a) That of e in term, as in thirst. (b) That of e in mete (in words of foreign origin), as in machine, pique…

The dorsal one of the three principal bones comprising either lateral half of the pelvis; the dorsal or upper part of the hip bone. See Innominate bone, under Innominate. [Written also ilion, and ileum.]

Members of a sect which sprung up in Spain about the year 1575. Their principal doctrine was, that, by means of prayer, they had attained to so perfect a state as to have no need of ordinances, sacraments, good works, etc.; -- called also Alumbrados, Perfectibilists, etc.

One of the principal means of securing unity and consistency in polyphonic composition; the repetition of essentially the same melodic theme, phrase, or motive, on different degrees of pitch, by one or more of the other parts of voises. Cf. Canon.

includes the right to employ the force of the state to enforce the laws. It is one of the principal attributes of the executive power.

The act of implicating, or the state of being implicated. Three principal causes of firmness are. the grossness, the quiet contact, and the implication of component parts. Boyle.

Dependent upon, or appertaining to, another thing, called the principal. Incident proposition (Logic), a proposition subordinate to another, and introduced by who, which, whose, whom, etc.; as, Julius, whose surname was Cæsar, overcame Pompey. I. Watts.

te, issued by the government of the United States at the close of the Revolution, for the principal or interest of the public debt. D. Ramsay. A. Hamilton.

e divine origin of Christianity. There is, indeed, no doubt but that vanity is one of the principal causes of infidelity. V. Knox.

An order of mammals which feed principally upon insects.

a purpose; intention; meaning; drift; aim. Be thy intents wicked or charitable. Shak. The principal intent of Scripture is to deliver the Hooker. To all intents, and purposes, in all applications or senses; practically; really; virtually; essentially. "He was miserable to all intents and purpose." L'Estrange.…

e object toward which the thoughts are directed; end; aim. In [chronical distempers], the principal intention is to restore the tone of the solid parts. Arbuthnot.

iron interest; the cotton interest. Compound interest, interest, not only on the original principal, but also on unpaid interest from the time it fell due. -- Simple interest, interest on the principal sum without interest on overdue interest.

In any framed work, a horizontal tie other than sill and plate or other principal ties, securing uprights to one another.