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Small in dignity, power, or importance; not great; insignificant; contemptible. When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes I Sam. xv. 17.

Low in rank or social importance. One common right the great and lowly claims. Pope.

corbels which support a projecting parapet, or in the floor of a gallery or the roof of a portal, shooting or dropping missiles upen assailants attacking the base of the walls. Also, the construction of such defenses, in general, when of this character. See Illusts. of Battlement and Castle.

without anything metallic about it, to be worn in a powder magazine. -- Magazine gun, a portable firearm, as a rifle, with a chamber carrying cartridges which are brought automatically into position for firing. -- Magazine stove, a stove having a chamber for holding fuel which is supplied to the fire by some self-fe…

ted by a magnet and sometimes possesses polarity, being then called loadstone. It is an important iron ore. Called also magnetic iron.

To increase the importance of; to augment the esteem or respect in which one is held. On that day the Lord magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel. Joshua iv. 14.

Greatness, in reference to influence or effect; importance; as, an affair of magnitude. The magnitude of his designs. Bp. Horsley. Apparent magnitude (Opt.), the angular breadth of an object viewed as measured by the angle which it subtends at the eye of the observer; - - called also apparent diameter. -- Magnitude of…

his battle of most might and main. R. of Gl. He 'gan advance, With huge force, and with importable main. Spenser.

The principal or most important spring in a piece of mechanism, especially the moving spring of a watch or clock or the spring in a gunlock which impels the hammer. Hence: The chief or most powerful motive; the efficient cause of action.

Of greater dignity; more important. Shak.

ce. -- To make no doubt, to have no doubt. -- To make no matter, to have no weight or importance; to make no difference. -- To make oath (Law), to swear, as to the truth of something, in a prescribed form of law. -- To make of. (a) To understand or think concerning; as, not to know what to make of the news. (b) To…

matodectes, equi), and that of cattle (Symbiotes, or Dermatophagys, bovis) are the most important species. See Acarina.

ur-bearing carnivores of the genus Mustela, closely allied to the sable. Among the more important species are the European beech, or stone, marten (Mustela foina); the pine marten (M. martes); and the American marten, or sable (M. Americana), which some zoölogists consider only a variety of the Russian sable.…

f solid or weighty character; not insubstantial; of cinsequence; not be dispensed with; important. Discourse, which was always material, never trifling. Evelyn. I shall, in the account of simple ideas, set down only such as are most material to our present purpose. Locke.

The tendency to give undue importance to material interests; devotion to the material nature and its wants.

Importance; as, the materiality of facts.

In an important manner or degree; essentaily; as, it materially concern us to know the real motives of our actions.

Affair worthy of account; thing of consequence; importance; significance; moment; -- chiefly in the phrases what matter no matter, and the like. A prophet some, and some a poet, cry; No matter which, so neither of them lie. Dryden.

Unimportant; immaterial. [Obs.]

Full of substance or matter; important. B. Jonson.