Search the Dictionary

To draw back again; to hold back from acting, proceeding, or advancing, either by physical or moral force, or by any interposing obstacle; to repress or suppress; to keep down; to curb. Restrain in me the cursed thoughts that nature Gives way to in repose! Shak.

hindering from motion or action, in any manner; hindrance of the will, or of any action, physical or mental. No man was altogether above the restrains of law, and no man altogether below its protection. Macaulay.

Withdrawn from active duty or business; as, a retired officer; a retired physician. Retired flank (Fort.), a flank bent inward toward the rear of the work. -- Retired list (Mil. & Naval), a list of officers, who, by reason of advanced age or other disability, are relieved from active service, but still receive a speci…

Of or pertaining to the German physicist Wilhelm Konrad Röntgen, or the rays discovered by him; as, Röntgen apparatus.

Of or pertaining to dew; resembling dew; dewy. Roric figures (Physics), figures which appear upon a polished surface, as glass, when objects which have been near to, or in contact with, the surface are removed and the surface breathed upon; -- called also Moser's images.

secrets. Ray. Others, accustomed to retired speculations, run natural philosophy into metaphysical notions. Locke.

d (see Judges xiii.), distinguished for his great strength; hence, a man of extraordinary physical strength. Samson post. (a) (Naut.) A strong post resting on the keelson, and supporting a beam of the keelson, and supporting a beam of the deck; also, a temporary or movable pilar carrying a leading block or pulley for v…

One of the seminaries for teaching logic, metaphysics, and theology, which were formed in the Middle Ages, and which were characterized by academical disputations and subtilties of reasoning. At Cambridge the philosophy of Descartes was still dominant in the schools. Macaulay.

Especially, such knowledge when it relates to the physical world and its phenomena, the nature, constitution, and forces of matter, the qualities and function of living tissues, etc.; -- called also natural science, and physical science. Voltaire hardly left a single corner of the field entirely unexplored in science,…

The power of discerning what is not visible to the physical eye, or of foreseeing future events, esp. such as are of a disastrous kind; the capacity of a seer; prophetic vision. he was seized with a fit of second-sight. Addison. Nor less availed his optic sleight, And Scottish gift of second- sight. Trumbull.…

The science that treats of the physical features of the moon; - - corresponding to physical geography in respect to the earth. "Accurate selenography, or description of the moon." Sir T. Browne.

ves of which, when plucked, show a slight tendency to fold together. -- Sensitive flame (Physics), a gas flame so arranged that under a suitable adjustment of pressure it is exceedingly sensitive to sounds, being caused to roar, flare, or become suddenly shortened or extinguished, by slight sounds of the proper pitch.…

ng; tender susceptibility. Mr. Hume sometimes employs (after the manner of the French metaphysicians) sentiment as synonymous with feeling; a use of the word quite unprecedented in our tongue. Stewart. Less of sentiment than sense. Tennyson.

The distinguishing peculiarity of male or female in both animals and plants; the physical difference between male and female; the assemblage of properties or qualities by which male is distinguished from female.

Somewhat sick; disposed to illness; attended with disease; as, a sickly body. This physic but prolongs thy sickly days. Shak.

Pertaining to Sigault, a French physician. See Symphyseotomy.

A resemblance between the external characters of a disease and those of some physical agent, for instance, that existing between the red skin of scarlet fever and a red cloth; -- supposed to indicate this agent in the treatment of the disease.

ability to perceive and perform; expertness; aptitude; as, the skill of a mathematician, physician, surgeon, mechanic, etc. Phocion, . . . by his great wisdom and skill at negotiations, diverted Alexander from the conquest of Athens. Swift. Where patience her sweet skill imparts. Keble.

only to afford practical skill in some trade, but also to develop the pupils mentally and physically.

nth. -- Solar oil, a paraffin oil used an illuminant and lubricant. -- Solar phosphori (Physics), certain substances, as the diamond, siulphide of barium (Bolognese or Bologna phosphorus), calcium sulphide, etc., which become phosphorescent, and shine in the dark, after exposure to sunlight or other intense light. -…