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Pertaining to theory; depending on, or confined to, theory or speculation; speculative; terminating in theory or speculation: not practical; as, theoretical learning; theoretic sciences. -- The`o*ret"ic*al*ly, adv.

alth to have a vigilant eye how books demean themselves as well as men; and thereafter to confine, imprison, and do sharpest justice on them as malefactors. Milton.

thority or moral influence, as by knotted cords; to oblige; to constrain; to restrain; to confine. Not tied to rules of policy, you find Revenge less sweet than a forgiving mind. Dryden.

To confine; to hamper; to shackle.

A wooden frame to confine an unruly horse or ox while shoeing. She sprung as a colt doth in the trave. Chaucer.

A large iguanalike reptile (Sphenodon punctatum) formerly common in New Zealand, but now confined to certain islets near the coast. It reaches a length of two and a half feet, is dark olive- green with small white or yellowish specks on the sides, and has yellow spines along the back, except on the neck.…

f both sexes. It was made with or without sleeves, reached to or below the knees, and was confined at the waist by a girdle.

To release from a cloister, or from confinement or seclusion; to set free; to liberate.

ess; disturbed by pain, anxiety, or the like; disquieted; perturbed. The soul, uneasy and confined from home, Rests and expatiates in a life to come. Pope.

g but one front surface; as, some foliaceous corals are unifacial, the polyp mouths being confined to one surface.

Unconfined; not restrained; unrestricted. Ascribe not unto God such an unlimited exercise of mercy as may destroy his justice. Rogers. Unlimited problem (Math.), a problem which is capable of an infinite number of solutions. -- Unlimited pump, a kind of deep-well pump placed at the level of the water, and operated fro…

To release from confinement or restraint. Keats.

To release from a pen or from confinement. "If a man unpens another's water." Blackstone.

A Pent up; confined. [Obs.]

A sitting up of a woman after her confinement, to receive and entertain her friends. [Obs.] To invite your lady's upsitting. Beau. & Fl.

The pressure or tension of a confined body of vapor. The pressure of a given saturated vapor is a function of the temperature only, and may be measured by introducing a small quantity of the substance into a barometer and noting the depression of the column of mercury.

Fig.: Opportunity of escape or passage from confinement or privacy; outlet.

ly a solid, by means of the difference in tension caused by its presence and absence in a confined portion of air.

The state of being under guard or guardianship; confinement under guard; the condition of a child under a guardian; custody. And he put them in ward in the house of the captain of the guard. Gen. xl. 3. I must attend his majesty's command, to whom I am now in ward. Shak. It is also inconvenient, in Ireland, that the wa…

Water confined in specially constructed compartments in a vessel's hold, to serve as ballast.