Search the Dictionary

Able to return quickly to a former state or condition, after being depressed or overtaxed; having power to recover easily from shocks and trials; as, elastic spirits; an elastic constitution. Elastic bitumen. (Min.) See Elaterite. -- Elastic curve. (a) (Geom.) The curve made by a thin elastic rod fixed horizontally at…

e study; an elective office. Kings of Rome were at first elective; . . . for such are the conditions of an elective kingdom. Dryden. Elective affinity or attraction (Chem.), a tendency to unite with certain things; chemism.

Atmospheric electricity, any condition of electrical disturbance in the atmosphere or clouds, due to some or all of the above mentioned causes. (e) Magnetic electricity, electricity developed by the action of magnets. (f) Positive electricity, the electricity that appears at the positive pole or anode of a battery, or…

The recognition by an animal body of the electrical condition of external objects.

Of or pertaining to electrogenesis; as, an electrogenic condition.

Of or pertaining to electrical tension; -- said of a supposed peculiar condition of a conducting circuit during its exposure to the action of another conducting circuit traversed by a uniform electric current when both circuits remain stationary. Faraday.

The modified condition of a nerve, when a constant current of electricity passes through any part of it. See Anelectrotonus, and Catelectrotonus.

The condition of being composed of elements, or a thing so composed.

The act of raising from a lower place, condition, or quality to a higher; -- said of material things, persons, the mind, the voice, etc.; as, the elevation of grain; elevation to a throne; elevation of mind, thoughts, or character.

The state of being emaciated or reduced to excessive leanness; an excessively lean condition.

seize eagerly, or with alacrity; to accept with cordiality; to welcome. "I embrace these conditions." "You embrace the occasion." Shak. What is there that he may not embrace for truth Locke.

The act of embroiling, or the condition of being embroiled; entanglement in a broil. Bp. Burnet.

An elevated condition among men; a place or station above men in general, either in rank, office, or celebrity; social or moral loftiness; high rank; distinction; preferment. Milton. You 've too a woman's heart, which ever yet Affected eminence, wealth, sovereignty. Shak.

That refractive condition of the eye in which the rays of light are all brought accurately and without undue effort to a focus upon the retina; -- opposed to hypermetropia, myopia, an astigmatism.

on productive real estate, the right being coupled with the enjoyment of the property on condition of taking care of the estate and paying taxes, and sometimes a small rent. Heumann.

The condition of enjoying anything; pleasure or satisfaction, as in the possession or occupancy of anything; possession and use; as, the enjoyment of an estate.

The condition of being entailed.

The state or condition of being entire; completeness; fullness; totality; as, the entireness of an arch or a bridge. This same entireness or completeness. Trench.

That which environs or surrounds; surrounding conditions, influences, or forces, by which living forms are influenced and modified in their growth and development. It is no friendly environment, this of thine. Carlyle.

ower to a regular form; - - considered by evolutionists to be a reversion to an ancestral condition.