Search the Dictionary

Emitting a murmuring sound; droning; murmuring; buzzing.

orm and nobleness of mind. Shak. This representation or likeness of the object being transmitted from thence [the senses] to the imagination, and lodged there for the view and observation of the pure intellect, is aptly and properly called its idea. P. Browne.

01), made public in 1907, and subsequently greatly revised and extended by a permanent committee or "Academy." It combines systematically the advantages of previous schemes with a thoroughly logical word formation, and has neither accented constants nor arbitrarily coined pronominal words. For each idea that root is se…

Emitting sparks of fire when struck with steel; scintillating; as, ignescent stones.

known; undiscovered. [Obs.] Ignorant concealment. Shak. Alas, what ignorant sin have I committed Shak.

Not permitted or allowed; prohibited; unlawful; as, illicit trade; illicit intercourse; illicit pleasure. One illicit . . . transaction always leads to another. Burke. -- Il*lic"it*ly, adv. -- Il*lic"it*ness, n.

The act of immitting, or of sending or thrusting in; injection; -- the correlative of emission.

Incapable of being passed; not admitting a passage; as, an impassable road, mountain, or gulf. Milton. -- Im*pass"a*ble*ness, n. -- Im*pass"a*bly, adv.

Incapable of being penetrated or pierced; not admitting the passage of other bodies; not to be entered; impervious; as, an impenetrable shield. Highest woods impenetrable To star or sunlight. Milton.

Not permeable; not permitting passage, as of a fluid. through its substance; impervious; impenetrable; as, India rubber is impermeable to water and to air. -- Im*per"me*a*ble*ness, n. -- Im*per"me*a*bly, adv.

Not pervious; not admitting of entrance or passage through; as, a substance impervious to water or air. This gulf impassable, impervious. Milton. The minds of these zealots were absolutely impervious. Macaulay.

Not admitting excuse, evasion, or plea; rigorous. [R.] T. Adams.

Capable of being improved; susceptible of improvement; admitting of being made better; capable of cultivation, or of being advanced in good qualities. Man is accommodated with moral principles, improvable by the exercise of his faculties. Sir M. Hale. I have a fine spread of improvable lands. Addison.…

Shak. We shall especially honor God by improving diligently the talents which God hath committed to us. Barrow. A hint that I do not remember to have seen opened and improved. Addison. The court seldom fails to improve the oppotunity. Blackstone. How doth the little busy bee Improve each shining hour. I. Watts. Those m…

ring, praying, and the like. -- To be in for it. (a) To be in favor of a thing; to be committed to a course. (b) To be unable to escape from a danger, penalty, etc. [Colloq.] -- To be (or keep) in with. (a) To be close or near; as, to keep a ship in with the land. (b) To be on terms of friendship, familiarity, or inti…

Not admissible; not proper to be admitted, allowed, or received; as, inadmissible testimony; an inadmissible proposition, or explanation. -- In`ad*mis"si*bly, adv.

Not admitting of appeal; not appealable. Coleridge.

The quality of being incessant; unintermitted continuance; unceasingness. Dr. T. Dwight.

Continuing or following without interruption; unceasing; unitermitted; uninterrupted; continual; as, incessant clamors; incessant pain, etc. Against the castle gate, . . . Which with incessant force and endless hate, They batter'd day and night and entrance did await. Spenser.

s prohibited by law. Shak. Spiritual incest. (Eccl. Law) (a) The crime of cohabitation committed between persons who have a spiritual alliance by means of baptism or confirmation. (b) The act of a vicar, or other beneficiary, who holds two benefices, the one depending on the collation of the other.