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ee is expressed; as, strongest, wisest, most stormy, least windy, are all superlatives. Absolute superlative, a superlative in an absolute rather than in a comparative or exclusive sense. See Elative.

Mixture; compound. [Obs.] Made a temperature of brass and iron together. Holland. Absolute temperature. (Physics) See under Absolute. -- Animal temperature (Physiol.), the nearly constant temperature maintained in the bodies of warm-blooded (homoiothermal) animals during life. The ultimate source of the heat is to be…

Manner of holding, in general; as, in absolute governments, men hold their rights by a precarious tenure. All that seems thine own, Held by the tenure of his will alone. Cowper. Tenure by fee alms. (Law) See Frankalmoigne.

Laid down; absolute or positive, as a law. Dr. H. More.

of spirituous liquors; especially, to drink frequently in small quantities, but without absolute drunkeness. Few of those who were summoned left their homes, and those few generally found it more agreeable to tipple in alehouses than to pace the streets. Macaulay.

Being under the influence of strong drink; rendered weak or foolish by liquor, but not absolutely or completely drunk; fuddled; intoxicated.

Whole; not divided; entire; full; complete; absolute; as, a total departure from the evidence; a total loss. " Total darkness." "To undergo myself the total crime." Milton. Total abstinence. See Abstinence, n., 1. -- Total depravity. (Theol.) See Original sin, under Original.

A burlesque translation or imitation of a work. The second edition is not a recast, but absolutely a travesty of the first. De Quincey.

Of or pertaining to a tyrant; suiting a tyrant; unjustly severe in government; absolute; imperious; despotic; cruel; arbitrary; as, a tyrannical prince; a tyrannical master; tyrannical government. "A power tyrannical." Shak. Our sects a more tyrannic power assume. Roscommon. The oppressor ruled tyrannic where he durst.…

The government or authority of a tyrant; a country governed by an absolute ruler; hence, arbitrary or despotic exercise of power; exercise of power over subjects and others with a rigor not authorized by law or justice, or not requisite for the purposes of government. "Sir," would he [Seneca] say, "an emperor mote need…

An absolute ruler; a sovereign unrestrained by law or constitution; a usurper of sovereignty.

Unyielding in will; not subject to persuasion or influence; inflexible; resolute; -- applied to persons.

Irresolute; inconsonant; variable; untrustworthy; as, an uncertain person; an uncertain breeze. O woman! in our hours of ease, Uncertain, coy, and hard to please! Sir W. Scott.

Not conditional limited, or conditioned; made without condition; absolute; unreserved; as, an unconditional surrender. O, pass not, Lord, an absolute decree, Or bind thy sentence unconditional. Dryden. -- Un`con*di"tion*al*ly, adv.

Not subject to condition or limitations; infinite; absolute; hence, inconceivable; incogitable. Sir W. Hamilton. The unconditioned (Metaph.), all that which is inconceivable and beyond the realm of reason; whatever is inconceivable under logical forms or relations.

Something not constituting essence, or something which is not of absolute necessity; as, forms are among the unessentials of religion.

Complete; perfect; total; entire; absolute; as, utter ruin; utter darkness. They . . . are utter strangers to all those anxious thoughts which disquiet mankind. Atterbury.

Vacillating; wavering; fluctuating; irresolute.

Inclined to vacillate; wavering; irresolute. Hawthorne.

A space entirely devoid of matter (called also, by way of distinction, absolute vacuum); hence, in a more general sense, a space, as the interior of a closed vessel, which has been exhausted to a high or the highest degree by an air pump or other artificial means; as, water boils at a reduced temperature in a vacuum.…