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Expressing or pertaining to a beginning; inceptive; as, an inchoative verb. "Some inchoative or imperfect rays." W. Montagu. -- n.

Beginning; commencement; incipient state.

Beginning to be, or to show itself; commencing; initial; as, the incipient stage of a fever; incipient light of day. -- In*cip"i*ent*ly, adv.

To begin (a line or lines) at a greater or less distance from the margin; as, to indent the first line of a paragraph one em; to indent the second paragraph two ems more than the first. See Indentation, and Indention.

The act of beginning a line or series of lines at a little distance within the flush line of the column or page, as in the common way of beginning the first line of a paragraph.

The act or process of inducting or bringing in; introduction; entrance; beginning; commencement. I know not you; nor am I well pleased to make this time, as the affair now stands, the induction of your acquaintance. Beau. & Fl. These promises are fair, the parties sure, And our induction dull of prosperous hope. Shak.…

The first age of anything; the beginning or early period of existence; as, the infancy of an art. The infancy and the grandeur of Rome. Arbuthnot.

A child in the first period of life, beginning at his birth; a young babe; sometimes, a child several years of age. And tender cries of infants pierce the ear. C. Pitt.

of the canon, called also perpetual fugues, so constructed that their ends lead to their beginnings, and the performance may be incessantly repeated. Moore (Encyc. of Music).

Infinite; perpetual, as a canon whose end leads back to the beginning. See Infinite, a., 5.

Population; inhabitants. [Obs.] Sir T. Browne. The beginning of nations and of the world's inhabitation. Sir W. Raleigh.

Of or pertaining to the beginning; marking the commencement; incipient; commencing; as, the initial symptoms of a disease.

In an initial or incipient manner or degree; at the beginning. Barrow.

To introduce by a first act; to make a beginning with; to set afoot; to originate; to commence; to begin or enter upon. How are changes of this sort to be initiated I. Taylor.

An introductory step or movement; an act which originates or begins. The undeveloped initiatives of good things to come. I. Taylor.

Suitable for an introduction or beginning; introductory; prefatory; as, an initiatory step. Bp. Hall.

Initiation; beginning. [Obs.] Sir R. Naunton.

joicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer. Rom. xii. 12. I am beginning to be very instant for some sort of occupation. Carlyle.

To begin; to commence; to set on foot; as, to institute an inquiry; to institute a suit. And haply institute A course of learning and ingenious studies. Shak.

the beginning of a contraction or narrowing in a tube or cylinder.