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sh; exclusive regard to one's own interest or happiness; that supreme self-love or self- preference which leads a person to direct his purposes to the advancement of his own interest, power, or happiness, without regarding those of others. Selfishness,- a vice utterly at variance with the happiness of him who harbors i…

It seems; -- chiefly used impersonally in reports and judgments to express an opinion in reference to the law on some point not necessary to be decided, and not intended to be definitely settled in the cause.

council of elected students, presided over by the president of the college, to which are referred cases of discipline and matters of general concern affecting the students. [U. S.] Senate chamber, a room where a senate meets when it transacts business. -- Senate house, a house where a senate meets when it transacts b…

hemselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. Jude 19. The greatest part of men are such as prefer . . . that good which is sensual before whatsoever is most divine. Hooker.

matter of the controversy; one who mediates between two parties; a mediator; an umpire or referee. Bouvier.

rver. [Obs.] They think herein we serve the time, because thereby we either hold or seek preferment. Hooker.

The material collected in, and discharged by, sewers. [In this sense sewage is preferable and common.]

sition of the stamens and pistils of plants. -- Sexual selection (Biol.), the selective preference of one sex for certain characteristics in the other, such as bright colors, musical notes, etc.; also, the selection which results from certain individuals of one sex having more opportunities of pairing with the other s…

This or that female; the woman understood or referred to; the animal of the female sex, or object personified as feminine, which was spoken of. She loved her children best in every wise. Chaucer. Then Sarah denied, . . . for she was afraid. Gen. xviii. 15.

A summary account. The short and the long is, our play is preferred. Shak.

One who practices simony, or who buys or sells preferment in the church. Ayliffe.

The crime of buying or selling ecclesiastical preferment; the corrupt presentation of any one to an ecclesiastical benefice for money or reward. Piers Plowman.

n this or that condition or state; under these circumstances; in this way; -- with reflex reference to something just asserted or implied; used also with the verb to be, as a predicate. Use him [your tutor] with great respect yourself, and cause all your family to do so too. Locke. It concerns every man, with the great…

To urge the claims of; to plead; to act as solicitor for or with reference to. [Obs.] Should My brother henceforth study to forget The vow that he hath made thee, I would ever Solicit thy deserts. Ford.

The doctrine that refers all diseases to morbid changes of the solid parts of the body. It rests on the view that the solids alone are endowed with vital properties, and can receive the impression of agents tending to produce disease.

Happening at a solstice; esp. (with reference to the northern hemisphere), happening at the summer solstice, or midsummer. "Solstitial summer's heat." Milton.

At a past time indefinitely referred to; once; formerly. Did they not sometime cry "All hail" to me Shak.

x. xxxii. 19. See So . . . as, under So. -- Soon at, as soon as; or, as soon as the time referred to arrives. [Obs.] "I shall be sent for soon at night." Shak. -- Sooner or later, at some uncertain time in the future; as, he will discover his mistake sooner or later. -- With the soonest, as soon as any; among the ea…

f a legislature. -- Special statute, or Special law, an act of the legislature which has reference to a particular person, place, or interest; -- in distinction from a general law. -- Special verdict (Law), a special finding of the facts of the case, leaving to the court the application of the law to them. Wharton (L…

in producing static electric induction as compared with that of some other body or bodies referred to as a standard. -- Specific legacy (Law), a bequest of a particular thing, as of a particular animal or piece of furniture, specified and distinguished from all others. Wharton. Burrill. -- Specific name (Nat., Hist.)…