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Characterized by, or addicted to, ratiocination; consisting in the comparison of proportions or facts, and the deduction of inferences from the comparison; argumentative; as, a ratiocinative process. The ratiocinative meditativeness of his character. Coleridge.

Ratio; proportion. [Obs.] Barrow. By reason of, by means of; on account of; because of. "Spain is thin sown of people, partly by reason of the sterility of the soil." Bacon. In reason, In all reason, in justice; with rational ground; in a right view. When anything is proved by as good arguments as a thing of that kind…

arallelograms, prisms, etc.), so related that two sides of the one form the extremes of a proportion of which the means are the two corresponding sides of the other; in general, two figures so related that the first corresponds in some special way to the second, and the second corresponds in the same way to the first.…

In the manner of reciprocals. Reciprocally proportional (Arith. & Alg.), proportional, as two variable quantities, so that the one shall have a constant ratio to the reciprocal of the other.

figures monstrous and misshaped appear, Considered singly, or beheld too near; Which, but proportioned to their light or place, Due distance reconciles to form and grace. Pope.

of something, as a figure, design, or draught, on a smaller scale, preserving the proper proportions. Fairholt.

nd the substitution of another, by the governed. The violence of revolutions is generally proportioned to the degree of the maladministration which has produced them. Macaulay.

e; affluence. Riches do not consist in having more gold and silver, but in having more in proportion, than our neighbors. Locke.

formance in which some tones are held longer than their legitimate time, while others are proportionally curtailed.

Not neat or regular; uneven. His well-proportioned beard made rough and rugged. Shak.

fourth, which shall have the same ratio to the third term as the second has to the first; proportion. See Proportion, 5 (b). -- Rule of thumb, any rude process or operation, like that of using the thumb as a rule in measuring; hence, judgment and practical experience as distinguished from scientific knowledge.…

a red gray; of the color composed of blue, red, and yellow in equal strength, but unequal proportions, namely, two parts of red to one each of blue and yellow; also, of a yellowish brown color. The morn, in russet mantle clad. Shak. Our summer such a russet livery wears. Dryden.

A series of spaces marked by lines, and representing proportionately larger distances; as, a scale of miles, yards, feet, etc., for a map or plan.

Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. You tell him silver is scarcer now in England, and therefore risen one fifth in value. Locke. The scarcest of all is a Pescennius Niger on a medallion well preserved. Addison.

The quality or condition of being scarce; smallness of quantity in proportion to the wants or demands; deficiency; lack of plenty; short supply; penury; as, a scarcity of grain; a great scarcity of beauties. Chaucer. A scarcity of snow would raise a mutiny at Naples. Addison. Praise . . . owes its value to its scarcity…

it or coil. -- Secondary color, a color formed by mixing any two primary colors in equal proportions. -- Secondary coverts (Zoöl.), the longer coverts which overlie the basal part of the secondary quills of a bird. See Illust. under Bird. -- Secondary crystal (Min.), a crystal derived from one of the primary forms.…

A disproportionate regard for the interests peculiar to a section of the country; local patriotism, as distinguished from national. [U. S.]

root of the cube of a quantity. Semicubical parabola, a curve in which the ordinates are proportional to the square roots of the cubes of the abscissas.

Containing, or acting as, a base in the proportions of a sesqui compound.

A salt derived from a sesquioxide base, or made up on the proportions of a sesqui compound.