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f Bacchus in a circle. -- Cyclic poets, certain epic poets who followed Homer, and wrote merely on the Trojan war and its heroes; -- so called because keeping within the circle of a singe subject. Also, any series or coterie of poets writing on one subject. Milman.

ion of the plant. Arbuthnot. In pharmacy decoction is opposed to infusion, where there is merely steeping. Latham.

l; -- opposed to circumstantial, or indirect, evidence. -- This distinction, however, is merely formal, since there is no direct evidence that is not circumstantial, or dependent on circumstances for its credibility. Wharton. -- Direct examination (Law), the first examination of a witness in the orderly course, upon…

Ancient heretics who held that Christ's body was merely a phantom or appearance.

One who plays a merely nominal part in any action; a sham character.

force, as in enable, enfeeble, to cause to be, or to make, able, or feeble; and sometimes merely gives an intensive force, as in enchasten. See In-.

The intensely hard calcified tissue entering into the composition of teeth. It merely covers the exposed parts of the teeth of man, but in many animals is intermixed in various ways with the dentine and cement. Enamel painting, painting with enamel colors upon a ground of metal, porcelain, or the like, the colors being…

The theory of generation which holds that the germ is created entirely new, not merely expanded, by the procreative power of the parents. It is opposed to the theory of evolution, also to syngenesis.

Filling up; hence, added merely for the purpose of filling up; superfluous. "Expletive imagery." Hallam. Expletive phrases to plump his speech. Barrow.

Not implied merely, or conveyed by implication; distinctly stated; plain in language; open to the understanding; clear; not obscure or ambiguous; express; unequivocal; as, an explicit declaration. The language of the charter was too explicit to admit of a doubt. Bancroft.

Pertaining to that relation which is proper when the act, as of a transitive verb, is not merely received by an object, but produces some change in the object, as when we say, He made the water wine. Sometimes the idea of activity in a verb or adjective involves in it a reference to an effect, in the way of causality,…

malt. globular proteins, capable of catalyzing a wide variety of chemical reactions, not merely hydrolytic. The full set of enzymes causing production of ethyl alcohol from sugar has been identified and individually purified and studied. See enzyme

, or resembling, work in filigree; as, a filigree basket. Hence: Fanciful; unsubstantial; merely decorative. You ask for reality, not fiction and filigree work. J. C. Shairp.

A fanciful stroke of the pen or graver; a merely decorative figure. The neat characters and flourishes of a Bible curiously printed. Boyle.

Pertaining to, or having the nature of, fluxion or fluxions; variable; inconstant. The merely human,the temporary and fluxional. Coleridge. Fluxional structure (Geol.), fluidal structure.

Serving to form; derivative; not radical; as, a termination merely formative.

mentioned. A bad author deserves better usage than a bad critic; a man may be the former merely through the misfortune of an ill judgment; but he can not be latter without both that and an ill temper. Pope.

umns; -- sometimes intended to be occupied by musicians or spectators, sometimes designed merely to increase the capacity of the hall.

view in relation to a genus or to genera. Copernicus generalized the celestial motions by merely referring them to the moon's motion. Newton generalized them still more by referring this last to the motion of a stone through the air. W. Nicholson.

A director (usually one holding a number of directorships) who serves merely or mainly for the fee (in England, often a guinea) paid for attendance. [Colloq.]