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sdain; mean; vile; despicable. Milton. The arguments of tyranny are ascontemptible as its force is dreadful. Burke.

into shorter or smaller dimensions; as, the contractile tissues. The heart's contractile force. H. Brooke. Each cilium seems to be composed of contractile substance. Hixley. Contractile vacuole (Zoöl.), a pulsating cavity in the interior of a protozoan, supposed to be excretory in function. There may be one, two, or m…

ary imposition or tax leved on the people of a town or country. These sums, . . . and the forced contributions paid by luckless peasants, enabled him to keep his straggling troops together. Motley.

o tear or pull up. [Obs.] The ends of the fragment . . . will not yield to the convellent force. Todd & Bowman.

ess, in which molten cast iron is decarburized and converted into steel by a blast of air forced through the liquid metal.

To overcome by argument; to force to yield assent to truth; to satisfy by proof. Such convincing proofs and assurances of it as might enable them to convince others. Atterbury.

A protection force accompanying ships, etc., on their way from place to place, by sea or land; an escort, for protection or guidance. When every morn my bosom glowed To watch the convoy on the road. Emerson.

Operating together; as, coöperant forces.

ough its batter. [U. S.] -- Corn laws, laws regulating trade in corn, especially those in force in Great Britain till 1846, prohibiting the importation of foreign grain for home consumption, except when the price rose above a certain rate. -- Corn marigold. (Bot.) See under Marigold. -- Corn oyster, a fritter contain…

all and elsewhere, and for water works. A heavy pump rod or plunger, raised by the steam, forces up the water by its weight, in descending.

ess; density; compactness. [Obs.] The heaviness and corpulency of water requiring a great force to divide it. Ray.

nto, or of giving place to, one another, under certain conditions; as, the correlation of forces, or of zymotic diseases. Correlation of energy, the relation to one another of different forms of energy; -- usually having some reference to the principle of conservation of energy. See Conservation of energy, under Conser…

Pertaining to a plastic force as operative in the formation of the world independently of God; world-forming. "Cosmoplastic and hylozoic atheisms." Gudworth.

antity of electricity conveyed in one second by the current produced by an electro-motive force of one volt acting in a circuit having a resistance of one ohm, or the quantitty transferred by one ampère in one second. Formerly called weber.

The law that the force exerted between two electric or magnetic charges is directly proportional to the product of the charges and inversely to the square of the distance between them.

a signal. -- Counter plea (Law), a replication to a plea. Cowell. -- Counter pressure, force or pressure that acts in a contrary direction to some other opposing pressure. -- Counter project, a project, scheme, or proposal brought forward in opposition to another, as in the negotiation of a treaty. Swift. -- Count…

Any force or device designed to restrain another restraining force; a check upon a check. The system of checks and counterchecks. J. H. Newton.

An equal power or force acting in opposition; a force sufficient to balance another force. The second nobles are a counterpoise to the higher nobility, that they grow not too potent. Bacon.

To act against with equal force, power, or effect; to thwart or overcome by such action; to furnish an equivalent to or for; to counterbalance; to compensate. Upon balancing the account, the profit at last will hardly countervail the inconveniences that go allong with it. L'Estrange.

device or stratagem; -- a term used in various ways to convey the idea of promptness and force. Coup de grace (ke gr Etym: [F.], the stroke of mercy with which an executioner ends by death the sufferings of the condemned; hence, a decisive, finishing stroke. -- Coup de main (ke m Etym: [F.] (Mil.), a sudden and unexp…