Search the Dictionary

Opposition; impediment; obstruction. [Obs.] B. Jonson.

Not yielding; not easily subdued or removed; as, obstinate fever; obstinate obstructions.

Causing obstruction; blocking up; hindering; as, an obstruent medicine. Johnson.

to escape observation. I. Taylor. Occult line (Geom.), a line drawn as a part of the construction of a figure or problem, but not to appear in the finished plan. -- Occult qualities, those qualities whose effects only were observed, but the nature and relations of whose productive agencies were undetermined; -- so cal…

nger or toe, attended with ulceration at the base of the nail, and terminating in the destruction of the nail.

Free or cleared of obstruction to progress or to view; accessible; as, an open tract; the open sea.

To crowd together; to fill with obstructions; to block up. [Obs.] Cockeram.

The act of filling or crowding together; a stopping by redundant matter; obstruction, particularly in the lower intestines. Jer. Taylor.

A sense of heaviness or obstruction in the body or mind; depression; dullness; lassitude; as, an oppression of spirits; an oppression of the lungs. There gentlee Sleep First found me, and with soft oppression seized My drowsed sense. Milton.

At first; at the origin; at the time of formation or costruction; as, a book originally written by another hand. "Originally a half length [portrait]." Walpole.

e nature of a parable; expressed by a parable or figure; allegorical; as, parabolical instruction.

Similarity of construction or meaning of clauses placed side by side, especially clauses expressing the same sentiment with slight modifications, as is common in Hebrew poetry; e. g.: -- At her feet he bowed, he fell: Where he bowed, there he fell down dead. Judg. v. 27.

ack of reaction in the affected tissues. Passive congestion (Med.), congestion due to obstruction to the return of the blood from the affected part. -- Passive iron (Chem.), iron which has been subjected to the action of heat, of strong nitric acid, chlorine, etc. It is then not easily acted upon by acids. -- Passive…

anded; evident; apparent; unconcealed; manifest; public; conspicuous. He had received instructions, both patent and secret. Motley.

ause sometimes inserted in contracts or specifications, requiring that a material of construction, as cement, must be of a brand that has stood the test of a specified number of years' use in an important public work. [Cant, U. S.]

meter for measuring the force required to draw wheel carriages on roads of different constructions. G. Francis.

er styles of Gothic architecture, where it is of stone, and an important part of the construction. There are imitations in plaster and wood, which are mere decorative features. "[A bridge] with . . . pendants graven fair." Spenser.

Entire loss; utter destruction; ruin; esp., the utter loss of the soul, or of final happiness in a future state; future misery or eternal death. The mere perdition of the Turkish fleet. Shak. If we reject the truth, we seal our own perdition. J. M. Mason.

Danger; risk; hazard; jeopardy; exposure of person or property to injury, loss, or destruction. In perils of waters, in perils of robbers. 2 Cor. xi. 26. Adventure hard With peril great achieved. Milton. At, or On, one's peril, with risk or danger to one; at the hazard of. "On thy soul's peril." Shak.…

Of or pertaining to the philosophy taught by Aristotle (who gave his instructions while walking in the Lyceum at Athens), or to his followers. "The true peripatetic school." Howell.