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A roving motion; course without definite direction; want of direction, rule, or method; hazard; chance; -- commonly used in the phrase at random, that is, without a settled point of direction; at hazard. Counsels, when they fly At random, sometimes hit most happily. Herrick. O, many a shaft, at random sent, Finds mark…

One of the component elements of the total radiation from a body; any definite or limited portion of the spectrum; as, the red ray; the violet ray. See Illust. under Light.

stans" of the schools, they will thereby very little help us to a more positive idea of infinite duration. Locke. Recurring decimal (Math.), a circulating decimal. See under Decimal. -- Recurring series (Math.), an algebraic series in which the coefficients of the several terms can be expressed by means of certain pre…

sed by the ray. -- Conical refraction (Opt.), the refraction of a ray of light into an infinite number of rays, forming a hollow cone. This occurs when a ray of light is passed through crystals of some substances, under certain circumstances. Conical refraction is of two kinds; external conical refraction, in which th…

ns, is conceived of as divided; hence, in general, a portion of space or territory of indefinite extent; country; province; district; tract. If thence he 'scappe, into whatever world, Or unknown region. Milton.

More than once; again and again; indefinitely.

An extravagant concient of the fancy; a vision. [R.] There are infinite reveries and numberless extravagancies pass through both [wise and foolish minds]. Addison.

or anguish, and indulged his grief. Dryden. He scorned to roar under the impressions of a finite anger. South.

urs after each of the other strains. "The Rondo-form was the earliest and most frequent definite mold for musical construction." Grove.

actice of cultivating crops in drills. -- Row of points (Geom.), the points on a line, infinite in number, as the points in which a pencil of rays is intersected by a line.

Hence, that which is established or settled, as by authority; a thing definitely settled or fixed. Cowper. Nay, as a duty, it had no place or rubric in human conceptions before Christianity. De Quincey.

se the ground any more for man's sake. Gen. viii. 21. Will he draw out, For anger's sake, finite to infinite Milton. Knowledge is for the sake of man, and not man for the sake of knowledge. Sir W. Hamilton.

he pectoral arch. See under pectoral. -- Scapular region, or Scapular tract (Zoöl.), a definite longitudinal area over the shoulder and along each side of the back of a bird, from which the scapular feathers arise.

A straight line in space with which a definite linear magnitude termed the pitch is associated (cf. 5th Pitch, 10 (b)). It is used to express the displacement of a rigid body, which may always be made to consist of a rotation about an axis combined with a translation parallel to that axis.

reference to the law on some point not necessary to be decided, and not intended to be definitely settled in the cause.

An indefinite number of terms succeeding one another, each of which is derived from one or more of the preceding by a fixed law, called the law of the series; as, an arithmetical series; a geometrical series.

of sheets each of which is folded into sixteen leaves; hence, indicating, more or less definitely, a size of a book; -- usually written 16mo, or 16º.

o the form it will receive when completely forged or fitted. To take shape, to assume a definite form.

Cut sharply or definitely, or so as to make a clear, well- defined impression, as the lines of an engraved plate, and the like; clear-cut; hence, having great distinctness; well-defined; clear.

shelf. Hence: To lay on the shelf; to put aside; to dismiss from service; to put off indefinitely; as, to shelve an officer; to shelve a claim.