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In the theory of gravitation, or of other forces acting in space, a function of the rectangular coordinates which determine the position of a point, such that its differential coefficients with respect to the coördinates are equal to the components of the force at the point considered; -- also called potential function…

A unit of force based upon the pound, foot, and second, being the force which, acting on a pound avoirdupois for one second, causes it to acquire by the of that time a velocity of one foot per second. It is about equal to the weight of half an ounce, and is 13,825 dynes.

Tending to invite favor; attracting confidence, favor, esteem, or love; attractive; as, a prepossessing manner. -- Pre`pos*sess"ing*ly, adv.

Cutting off; abstracting. [R.] Cheyne.

resence of mind, that state of the mind in which all its faculties are alert, prompt, and acting harmoniously in obedience to the will, enabling one to reach, as it were spontaneously or by intuition, just conclusions in sudden emergencies.

Urgent; exacting; importunate; as, a pressing necessity. -- Press"ing*ly, adv.

Pleasing by delicacy or grace; attracting, but not striking or impressing; of a pleasing and attractive form a color; having slight or diminutive beauty; neat or elegant without elevation or grandeur; pleasingly, but not grandly, conceived or expressed; as, a pretty face; a pretty flower; a pretty poem. This is the pre…

glass, the difference of dispersive power being compensated by giving them different refracting angles, so that, when placed together so as to have opposite relative positions, a ray of light passed through them is refracted or bent into a new position, but is free from color. -- Nicol's prism, Nicol prism. Etym: [So…

nathous; provide, to look out for; pronoun, a word instead of a noun; proconsul, a person acting in place of a consul; proportion, arrangement according to parts.

Looking forward in time; acting with foresight; -- opposed to retrospective. The French king of Sweden are circumspect, industrious, and prospective, too, in this affair. Sir J. Child.

An instrument formerly used in extracting foreign or offensive matter from a wound.

The treatment of disease by acting on the mind, as by suggestion; mind cure; psychotherapy.

Acting in consequence or in prosecution (of anything); hence, agreeable; conformable; following; according; -- with to or of. The conclusion which I draw from these premises, pursuant to the query laid down, is, etc. Waterland.

Acting by the agency of heat and magnetism; as, a pyromagnetic machine for producing electric currents.

a querulous man or people. Enmity can hardly be more annoying that querulous, jealous, exacting fondness. Macaulay.

Capable of radiating; acting by radiation. Tyndall.

An ideal straight line joining the center of an attracting body with that of a body describing an orbit around it, as a line joining the sun and a planet or comet, or a planet and its satellite.

-- usually measured and designated by the strength of the lens which if added to the refracting media of the eye would cause the rays from the near point to appear as if they came from the far point. -- Range finder (Gunnery), an instrument, or apparatus, variously constructed, for ascertaining the distance of an ina…

The act or practice of extorting or exacting by oppressive injustice; exorbitant greediness of gain. "The rapacity of some ages." Sprat.

Manner of reciting, or acting a part, on the stage; way of rendering. [Cant]