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Principle; an element; -- used by the alchemists in speaking of salt, sulphur, and mercury, which they considered as the three principles of all material bodies.

Relating to hypostasis, or substance; hence, constitutive, or elementary. The grand doctrine of the chymists, touching their three hypostatical principles. Boyle.

A suffix, denoting that the element indicated enters into certain compounds with its highest valence, or with a valence relatively higher than in compounds where the name of the element ends in -ous; as, ferric, sulphuric. It is also used in the general sense of pertaining to; as, hydric, sodic, calcic.…

A suffix used to denote: (a) The nonmetallic, or negative, element or radical in a binary compound; as, oxide, sulphide, chloride. (b) A compound which is an anhydride; as, glycolide, phthalide. (c) Any one of a series of derivatives; as, indogenide, glucoside, etc.

nal conception; the complete conception of an object when thought of in all its essential elements or constituents; the necessary metaphysical or constituent attributes and relations, when conceived in the abstract.

An original, pictorial element of writing; a kind of hieroglyph expressing no sound, but only an idea. Ideograms may be defined to be pictures intended to represent either things or thoughts. I. Taylor (The Alphabet). You might even have a history without language written or spoken, by means of ideograms and gesture. J…

A supposed element claimed to have been discovered by R.Harmann.

Sir W. Hamilton. The power of the mind to decompose its conceptions, and to recombine the elements of them at its pleasure, is called its faculty of imagination. I. Taylor. The business of conception is to present us with an exact transcript of what we have felt or perceived. But we have moreover a power of modifying o…

d. In all the higher departments of imaginative art, nature still constitues an important element. Mure.

sed real presence and union of Christ's material body and blood with the substance of the elements of the eucharist without a change in their nature; -- distinguished from transubstantiation, which supposes a miraculous change of the substance of the elements. It is akin to consubstantiation.

Wanting in some elementary organ that is essential to successful or normal activity. He . . . stammered like a child, or an amazed, imperfect person. Jer. Taylor.

ust, 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.

Physical severity or harshness (commonly in respect to the elements or weather); roughness; storminess; rigor; severe cold, wind, rain, or snow. The inclemencies of morning air. Pope. The rude inclemency of wintry skies. Cowper.

Physically severe or harsh (generally restricted to the elements or weather); rough; boisterous; stormy; rigorously cold, etc.; as, inclement weather. Cowper. The guard the wretched from the inclement sky. Pope. Teach us further by what means to shun The inclement seasons, rain, ice, hail, and snow! Milton.…

posable; incapable or difficult of decomposition; not resolvable into its constituents or elements.

A rare metallic element, discovered in certain ores of zinc, by means of its characteristic spectrum of two indigo blue lines; hence, its name. In appearance it resembles zinc, being white or lead gray, soft, malleable and easily fusible, but in its chemical relation it resembles aluminium or gallium. Symbol In. Atomic…

at which enters into a compound, or is a component part of any combination or mixture; an element; a constituent. By way of analysis we may proceed from compounds to ingredients. Sir I. Newton. Water is the chief ingredient in all the animal fluids and solids. Arbuthnot.

iate; introducing by instruction, or by the use and application of symbols or ceremonies; elementary; rudimentary. Some initiatory treatises in the law. Herbert. Two initiatory rites of the same general import can not exist together. J. M. Mason.

Hence: An elementary and necessary principle; a precept, maxim, or rule, recognized as established and authoritative; usually in the plural, a collection of such principles and precepts; esp., a comprehensive summary of legal principles and decisions; as, the Institutes of Justinian; Coke's Institutes of the Laws of En…

That which institutes or instructs; a textbook; a system of elements or rules; an institute. [Obs.] There is another manuscript, of above three hundred years old, . . . being an institution of physic. Evelyn.