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Mutilated; defective; imperfect. [Obs.]

To utter with imperfect articulations, or with a low voice; as, to mutter threats. Shak.

A pearly substance which lines the interior of many shells, and is most perfect in the mother-of-pearl. [Written also nacker and naker.] See Pearl, and Mother-of-pearl.

ironment have tended to survive and leave similarly adapted descendants, while those less perfectly adapted have tended to die out though lack of fitness for the environment, thus resulting in the survival of the fittest. See Darwinism. -- Natural system (Bot. & Zoöl.), a classification based upon real affinities, as…

Having no generative organs, or imperfectly developed ones; sexless. See Neuter, n., 3.

ty it neither tends to return to its former position not depart more widely from it, as a perfect sphere or cylinder on a horizontal plane. -- Neutral salt (Chem.), a salt formed by the complete replacement of the hydrogen in an acid or base; in the former case by a positive or basic, in the latter by a negative or ac…

uperable difficalty; inability to proceed or decide; puzzle; quandary. Both of them are a perfect nonplus and baffle to all human understanding. South.

Unsound; not perfect; as, a person of nonsane memory. Blackstone.

A small or imperfect ear of maize. [Colloq. U. S.]

nvalid; void; nugatory; useless. Faultily faultless, icily regular, splendidly null, Dead perfection; no more. Tennyson.

, O was a mark of triple time, from the notion that the ternary, or number 3, is the most perfect of numbers, and properly expressed by a circle, the most perfect figure. O was also anciently used to represent 11: with a dash over it (O O, n.; pl. O's or Oes (.

Covered over, shaded, or darkened; destitute of light; imperfectly illuminated; dusky; dim. His lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness. Prov. xx. 20.

Not very distinct; obscure; rudimental; imperfectly developed; abortive.

"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 make himself master of, who would get a reputation by critical…

Having few or imperfect syringeal muscles; -- said of some passerine birds (Oligomyodi).

ke. Speculative painting, without the assistance of manual operation, can never attain to perfection. Dryden.

rent individuals, and thus determiming the proper focal length of a lens for correcting imperfect sight. Brande & C.

To become round like an orb. [Poetic] And orb into the perfect star. Tennyson.

Defect; imperfection; fault. [Obs.] Holland.

Bright; lustrous; superior; pure; perfect; pellucid; -- used of gems and also figuratively, because the most perfect jewels are found in the East. "Pearls round and orient." Jer. Taylor. "Orient gems." Wordsworth. "Orient liquor in a crystal glass." Milton.