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fficer of the post-office department of a government. In the United States the postmaster-general is a member of the cabinet.

a similar officer under the United States government, who is associated with the attorney-general; also, the chief law officer of some of the States.

In France, before the Revolution, the assembly of the three orders of the kingdom, namely, the clergy, the nobility, and the third estate, or commonalty.

ng that kind of reasoning which derives propositions from the observation of facts, or by generalizations from facts arrives at principles and definitions, or infers causes from effects. This is the reverse of a priori reasoning.

olute temperature (Physics), the temperature as measured on a scale determined by certain general thermo-dynamic principles, and reckoned from the absolute zero. -- Absolute zero (Physics), the be ginning, or zero point, in the scale of absolute temperature. It is equivalent to -273º centigrade or -459.4º Fahrenheit.…

Resulting from the mental faculty of abstraction; general as opposed to particular; as, "reptile" is an abstract or general name. Locke. A concrete name is a name which stands for a thing; an abstract name which stands for an attribute of a thing. A practice has grown up in more modern times, which, if not introduced b…

To revile; to reproach coarsely; to disparage. The . . . tellers of news abused the general. Macaulay.

A word; a significant tone; (pl.) expressions in general; speech. Winds! on your wings to Heaven her accents bear, Such words as Heaven alone is fit to hear. Dryden.

The meaning in which a word or expression is understood, or generally received; as, term is to be used according to its usual acceptation. My words, in common acceptation, Could never give this provocation. Gay.

y something added; addition; as, an access of territory. [In this sense accession is more generally used.] I, from the influence of thy looks, receive Access in every virtue. Milton.

A cooperator. [R.] Success unto our valiant general, And happiness to his accomplices! Shak.

A statement in general of reasons, causes, grounds, etc., explanatory of some event; as, no satisfactory account has been given of these phenomena. Hence, the word is often used simply for reason, ground, consideration, motive, etc.; as, on no account, on every account, on all accounts.

usts, accounts; an officer in a public office, who has charge of the accounts. Accountatn general, the head or superintending accountant in certain public offices. Also, formerly, an officer in the English court of chancery who received the moneys paid into the court, and deposited them in the Bank of England.…

; an accretion. [R.] The silent accrescence of belief from the unwatched depositions of a general, never contradicted hearsy. Coleridge.

something else, by which the owner of one thing becomes possessed of a right to another; generally, gain of land by the washing up of sand or sail from the sea or a river, or by a gradual recession of the water from the usual watermark.

An escutcheon or ensign armorial; now generally applied to the funeral shield commonly called hatchment. Cussans.

One of a class of compounds, generally but not always distinguished by their sour taste, solubility in water, and reddening of vegetable blue or violet colors. They are also characterized by the power of destroying the distinctive properties of alkalies or bases, combining with them to form salts, at the same time losi…

, to acknowledge the being of a God. I acknowledge my transgressions. Ps. li. 3. For ends generally acknowledged to be good. Macaulay.

in distinction from his exoteric doctrines, which were adapted to outsiders or the public generally. Hence: Abstruse; profound.

A statue whose extremities are of stone, the trunk being generally of wood. Elmes.