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d in law or equity; responsible; answerable; as, the surety is liable for the debt of his principal.

g from the impost and is not a ridge rib, but passes from one boss or intersection of the principal ribs to another.

The phallic symbol under which Siva is principally worshiped in his character of the creative and reproductive power. Whitworth. E. Arnold.

Of or pertaining to Lithuania (formerly a principality united with Poland, but now Russian and Prussian territory).

A form of cannon formerly in use. Prescott. Lombard Street, the principal street in London for banks and the offices of note brokers; hence, the money market and interest of London.

cterized by muscular tremors and spasms, followed by more or less complete paralysis. The principal lesion is an inflammation of the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord.

The Pawnees, a tribe of North American Indians whose principal totem was the wolf.

A high explosive consisting principally of picric acid, used as a shell explosive in the British service; -- so named from the proving grounds at Lydd, England.

One of the dark race inhabiting principally the islands of Eastern Polynesia. Also used adjectively.

The chief or principal part; the main or most important thing. [Obs., except in special uses.] Resolved to rest upon the title of Lancaster as the main, and to use the other two . . . but as supporters. Bacon.

The continent; the principal land; -- opposed to island, or peninsula. Dryden. After the two wayfarers had crossed from the peninsula to the mainland. Hawthorne.

Principally; chiefly.

The principal mast in a ship or other vessel.

The principal sail in a ship or other vessel. [They] hoised up the mainsail to the wind. Acts xxvii. 40.

The principal or most important spring in a piece of mechanism, especially the moving spring of a watch or clock or the spring in a gunlock which impels the hammer. Hence: The chief or most powerful motive; the efficient cause of action.

Main support; principal dependence. The great mainstay of the Church. Buckle.

Principal; chief. [Obs.] Chaucer.

The bone, or principal bone, of the lower jaw; the inferior maxilla; -- also applied to either the upper or the lower jaw in the beak of birds.

The principal mandibular bone; the mandible. Mandibular arch (Anat.), the most anterior visceral arch, -- that in which the mandible is developed.

The principal or ruling evil spirit. E. Arnold.