INDIRECT a.
l to another by showing that it can be neither greater nor less. -- Indirect discourse. (Gram.) See Direct discourse, under Direct. -- Indirect evidence, evidence or testimony which is circumstantial or inferential, but without witness; -- opposed to direct evidence. -- Indirect tax, a tax, such as customs, excises,…
INFINITIVE n.
Unlimited; not bounded or restricted; undefined. Infinitive mood (Gram.), that form of the verb which merely names the action, and performs the office of a verbal noun. Some grammarians make two forms in English: (a) The simple form, as, speak, go, hear, before which to is commonly placed, as, to speak; to go; to hear.…
INTERJECTION n.
tc. Compare Exclamation. An interjection implies a meaning which it would require a whole grammatical sentence to expound, and it may be regarded as the rudiment of such a sentence. But it is a confusion of thought to rank it among the parts of speech. Earle. How now! interjections Why, then, some be of laughing, as, a…
IONIC a.
hing feature is a capital with spiral volutes. See Illust. of Capital. Ionic dialect (Gr. Gram.), a dialect of the Greek language, used in Ionia. The Homeric poems are written in what is designated old Ionic, as distinguished from new Ionic, or Attic, the dialect of all cultivated Greeks in the period of Athenian prosp…
IOTA n.
an iota from the authentic formulas of tyranny and usurpation. Burke. Iota subscript (Gr. Gram.), iota written beneath a preceding vowel, as a,, h,, w,, -- done when iota is silent.
ISODIABATIC a.
ance. Rankine. Isodiabatic lines or curves, a pair of lines or curves exhibiting, on a diagram of energy, the law of variation of the pressure and density of a fluid, the one during the lowering, and the other during the raising, of its temperature, when the quantity of heat given out by the fluid during any given stag…
ISOMETRIC; ISOMETRICAL a.
cubic. Cf. Crystallization. Isometric lines (Thermodynamics), lines representing in a diagram the relations of pressure and temperature in a gas, when the volume remains constant. -- Isometrical perspective. See under Perspective. -- Isometrical projection, a species of orthographic projection, in which but a single…
LATIN a.
Of, pertaining to, or composed in, the language used by the Romans or Latins; as, a Latin grammar; a Latin composition or idiom. Latin Church (Eccl. Hist.), the Western or Roman Catholic Church, as distinct from the Greek or Eastern Church. -- Latin cross. See Illust. 1 of Cross. -- Latin races, a designation sometim…