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Any particular system of characters, symbols, or abbreviated expressions used in art or science, to express briefly technical facts, quantities, etc. Esp., the system of figures, letters, and signs used in arithmetic and algebra to express number, quantity, or operations.

oper or improper fraction, or incommensurable ratio. The term also includes any imaginary expression like m + nsq. root-1, where m and n are real numerics.

nything divine or sacred, by way of appeal or as a profane exclamation or ejaculation; an expression of profane swearing. "A terrible oath" Shak.

A manifestation of obedience; an expression of difference or respect; homage; a bow; a courtesy. Bathsheba bowed and did obeisance unto the king. 1 Kings i. 16.

Hence: An expression of an opinion or judgment upon what one has observed; a remark. "That's a foolish observation." Shak. To observations which ourselves we make We grow more partial for the observer's sake. Pope.

l or common; unusual; singular; peculiar; unique; strange. "An odd action." Shak. "An odd expression." Thackeray. The odd man, to perform all things perfectly, is, in my poor opinion, Joannes Sturmius. Ascham. Patients have sometimes coveted odd things. Arbuthnot. Locke's Essay would be a very odd book for a man to mak…

generous; liberal; bounteous; -- applied to personal appearance, or character, and to the expression of thought and feeling, etc. With aspect open, shall erect his head. Pope. The Moor is of a free and open nature. Shak. The French are always open, familiar, and talkative. Addison.

The formal decision, or expression of views, of a judge, an umpire, a counselor, or other party officially called upon to consider and decide upon a matter or point submitted. To be of opinion, to think; to judge. -- To hold opinion with, to agree with. [Obs.] Shak.

In an optative manner; with the expression of desire. [R.] God blesseth man imperatively, and man blesseth God optatively. Bp. Hall.

They have something venerable and oracular in that unadorned gravity and shortness in the expression. Pope. -- O*rac"u*lar*ly, adv. -- O*rac"u*lar*ness, n.

mbers in a sentence in such a manner as to contribute to force and beauty or clearness of expression.

Any system, doctrine, custom, expression, etc., peculiar to Oriental people.

Hence: An expression of popular homage; the tribute of the multitude to a public favorite. To rain an April of ovation round Their statues. Tennyson.

Expression of the passions; the science of the signs by which human passions are indicated.

er emotions, such as pity, sorrow, and the like; contagious warmth of feeling, action, or expression; pathetic quality; as, the pathos of a picture, of a poem, or of a cry. The combination of incident, and the pathos of catastrophe. T. Warton.

To play the pedant; to use pedantic expressions. [R.]

greater vagueness or uncertainty of outline in distant objects. Aërial perspective is the expression of space by any means whatsoever, sharpness of edge, vividness of color, etc. Ruskin.

The quality of being perspicuous to the understanding; clearness of expression or thought.

Clear to the understanding; capable of being clearly understood; clear in thought or in expression; not obscure or ambiguous; as, a perspicuous writer; perspicuous statements. "The purpose is perspicuous." Shak. -- Per*spic"u*ous*ly, adv. -- Per*spic"u*ous*ness, n.

A brief expression, sometimes a single word, but usually two or more words forming an expression by themselves, or being a portion of a sentence; as, an adverbial phrase. "Convey" the wise it call. "Steal!" foh! a fico for the phrase. Shak.