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A peculiar, or individual, characteristic or affection. All men are so full of their own fancies and idiopathies, that they scarce have the civility to interchange any words with a stranger. Dr. H. More.

constitution or temperament; a characteristic belonging to, and distinguishing, an individual; characteristic susceptibility; idiocrasy; eccentricity. The individual mind . . . takes its tone from the idiosyncrasies of the body. I. Taylor.

Of peculiar temper or disposition; belonging to one's peculiar and individual character.

to have. Book of Common Prayer. Invincible ignorance (Theol.), ignorance beyond the individual's control and for which, therefore, he is not responsible before God.

matozoön) to form a single new cell endowed with the power of developing into a new individual; fertilization; fecundation.

Not peculiar or appropriate to individuals; general; common. [Obs.] Not to be adorned with any art but such improper ones as nature is said to bestow, as singing and poetry. J. Fletcher.

or time Beldame, I think we watched you at an inch. Shak. By inches, by slow degrees, gradually. -- Inch of candle. See under Candle. -- Inches of pressure, usually, the pressure indicated by so many inches of a mercury column, as on a steam gauge. -- Inch of water. See under Water. -- Miner's inch, (Hydraulic Min…

Little by little; gradually.

onest. Milton. Your Christian principles . . . which will preserve you incorrupt as individuals. Bp. Hurd.

Bending gradually toward the axis or center, as branches or petals.

To distinguish from others from others of the species; to endow with individuality; to divide into individuals; to discriminate. The soul, as the prime individuating principle, and the said reserved portion of matter as an essential and radical part of the individuation, shall . . . make up and restore the same individ…

The act of individuating or state of being individuated; individualization. H. Spencer.

Separate existence; individuality; oneness. Fuller.

cess of reasoning from a part to a whole, from particulars to generals, or from the individual to the universal; also, the result or inference so reached. Induction is an inference drawn from all the particulars. Sir W. Hamilton. Induction is the process by which we conclude that what is true of certain individuals of…

To penetrate gradually; -- sometimes used reflexively. J. S. Mill.

Hence, in general, the bringing about of an effect, phusical or moral, by a gradual process; controlling power quietly exerted; agency, force, or tendency of any kind which the sun exerts on animal and vegetable life; the influence of education on the mind; the influence, according to astrologers,of the stars over affa…

violation of, the person, character, feelings, rights, property, or interests of an individual; that which injures, or occasions wrong, loss, damage, or detriment; harm; hurt; loss; mischief; wrong; evil; as, his health was impaired by a severe injury; slander is an injury to the character. For he that doeth injury sha…

ish between right and wrong, with regard to any matter under action, does away with individual responsibility.

eived by the senses; imperceptible. Hence: Progressing by imperceptible degrees; slow; gradual; as, insensible motion. Two small and almost insensible pricks were found upon Cleopatra's arm. Sir T. Browne. They fall away, And languish with insensible decay. Dryden.

In a manner not to be felt or perceived; imperceptibly; gradually. The hills rise insensibly. Addison.