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Befitting one's nature, qualities, etc.; suitable in all respect; appropriate; right; fit; decent; as, water is the proper element for fish; a proper dress. The proper study of mankind is man. Pope. In Athens all was pleasure, mirth, and play, All proper to the spring, and sprightly May. Dryden.

To adjust in a suitable proportion, as one thing or one part to another; as, to proportion the size of a building to its height; to proportion our expenditures to our income. In the loss of an object we do not proportion our grief to the real value . . . but to the value our fancies set upon it. Addison.…

Having a due proportion, or comparative relation; being in suitable proportion or degree; as, the parts of an edifice are proportional. Milton.

The quality or state of being proper; suitableness to an acknowledged or correct standard or rule; consonance with established principles, rules, or customs; fitness; appropriateness; as, propriety of behavior, language, manners, etc. "The rule of propriety," Locke.

Capable of being published; suitable for publication.

Like, becoming, or suitable to, a queen.

A portion suitable to be chewed; a cud; as, a quid of tobacco.

of a wound are secured about two quills or bodies of similar shape, in order to produce a suitable degree of pressure.

articular class, order, or division; to class; also, to dispose methodically; to place in suitable classes or order; to classify. Ranking all things under general and special heads. I. Watts. Poets were ranked in the class of philosophers. Broome. Heresy is ranked with idolatry and witchcraft. Dr. H. More.…

action of heat; as, raw sienna; specifically, not cooked; not changed by heat to a state suitable for eating; not done; as, raw meat.

Such as can be read; legible; fit or suitable to be read; worth reading; interesting. -- Read"a*ble*ness, n. -- Read"a*bly, adv,.

Suitable to be recommended; worthy of praise; commendable. Glanvill. -- Rec`om*mend"a*ble*ness, n. -- Rec`om*mend"a*bly, adv.

An equivalent returned for anything done, suffered, or given; compensation; requital; suitable return. To me belongeth vengeance, and recompense. Deut. xxii. 35. And every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward. Heb. ii. 2.

To make consistent or congruous; to bring to agreement or suitableness; -- followed by with or to. The great men among the ancients understood how to reconcile manual labor with affairs of state. Locke. Some figures monstrous and misshaped appear, Considered singly, or beheld too near; Which, but proportioned to their…

Suitable or fit to be relied on; worthy of dependance or reliance; trustworthy. "A reliable witness to the truth of the miracles." A. Norton. The best means, and most reliable pledge, of a higher object. Coleridge. According to General Livingston's humorous account, his own village of Elizabethtown was not much more re…

Capable of being rented, or suitable for renting.

Suitable for being breathed; adapted for respiration. -- Re*spir"a*ble*ness, n.

That which is given in repayment or compensation; return suitable to the merits or deserts of, as an action; commonly, condign punishment for evil or wrong. All who have their reward on earth, . . . Naught seeking but the praise of men, here find Fit retribution, empty as their deeds. Milton.

controller permitting of very gradual variation in speed and of reverse. It is especially suitable for use with motor driven machine tools.

Suitable to a master of rhetoric. "With rhetorician pride." Blackmore.