Search the Dictionary

A few measures added beyond the natural termination of a composition.

parting magnetism to it, and also interposes an obstacle to the return of a bar to its natural state when active magnetism has ceased. It plainly depends on the molecular constitution of the metal. Nichol. The power of resisting magnetization or demagnization is sometimes called coercive force. S. Thompson.…

Fig.: Treasure or funds; -- usually in the plural. He would discharge it without any burden to the queen's coffers, for honor sake. Bacon. Hold, here is half my coffer. Shak.

To be united or connected together in subordination to one purpose; to follow naturally and logically, as the parts of a discourse, or as arguments in a train of reasoning; to be logically consistent. They have been inserted where they best seemed to cohere. Burke.

A natural group of orders of plants, less comprehensive than a class.

A genus of sterculiaceous trees, natives of tropical Africa, esp. Guinea, but now naturalized in tropical America, esp. in the West Indies and Brazil.

To infer; to conclude. [Archaic] Whence some collect that the former word imports a plurality of persons. South.

Having plurality of origin or authority; as, in diplomacy, a note signed by the representatives of several governments is called a collective note. Collective fruit (Bot.), that which is formed from a mass of flowers, as the mulberry, pineapple, and the like; -- called also multiple fruit. Gray.

ate; esp., one who makes a business or practice of collecting works of art, objects in natural history, etc.; as, a collector of coins. I digress into Soho to explore a bookstall. Methinks I have been thirty years a collector. Lamb.

A distinguishing badge, as a flag or similar symbol (usually in the plural); as, the colors or color of a ship or regiment; the colors of a race horse (that is, of the cap and jacket worn by the jockey). In the United States each regiment of infantry and artillery has two colors, one national and one regimental. Farrow…

To unite by affinity or natural attraction; as, two substances, which will not combine of themselves, may be made to combine by the intervention of a third.

Something suitable to be eaten; -- commonly in the plural. Thackeray.

nt of transactions or events written hastily, as if for a memorandum; -- usually in the plural; as, Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic War.

l diminution by the removal of small particles at a time; a lessening; a wearing away. Natural and necessary comminution of our lives. Johnson.

f thoughts, purposes, etc.; agreement; fellowship; as, the communion of saints. We are naturally induced to seek communion and fellowship with others. Hooker. What communion hath light with darkness 2 Cor. vi. 14. Bare communion with a good church can never alone make a good man. South.

sounds water and fire, being once annexed to those two elements, it was certainly more natural to call beings participating of the first "watery", and the last "fiery", than to commute the terms, and call them by the reverse. J. Harris The utmost that could be obtained was that her sentence should be commuted from burn…

The bodily constitution; the temperament; habitude, or natural disposition; character; nature. [Obs.] If his complexion incline him to melancholy. Milton. It is the complexion of them all to leave the dam. Shak.

ing, or helping, to form; composing; constituting; constituent. The component parts of natural bodies. Sir I. Newton.

A natural tendency inherent in a body to develop itself; an attempt; an effort. What conatus could give prickles to the porcupine or hedgehog, or to the sheep its fleece Paley.

A fanciful, odd, or extravagant notion; a quant fancy; an unnatural or affected conception; a witty thought or turn of expression; a fanciful device; a whim; a quip. On his way to the gibbet, a freak took him in the head to go off with a conceit. L'Estrange. Some to conceit alone their works confine, And glittering tho…