Search the Dictionary

Carrying or possessing weight or consequence; of valuable content or bearing; significant; weighty. Things small as nothing . . . He makes important. Shak.

The top member of a pillar, pier, wall, etc., upon which the weight of an arch rests.

s, etc., with a human from or nature. This essence to incarnate and imbrute, That to the height of deity aspired. Milton.

measure of length, the twelfth part of a foot, commonly subdivided into halves, quarters, eights, sixteenths, etc., as among mechanics. It was also formerly divided into twelve parts, called lines, and originally into three parts, called barleycorns, its length supposed to have been determined from three grains of barl…

That which is physically incumbent; that which lies as a burden; a weight. Evelyn.

aking a difference; want of sufficient importance to constitute a difference; absence of weight; insignificance.

sible, but in its chemical relation it resembles aluminium or gallium. Symbol In. Atomic weight, 113.4.

at which is infinite; boundless space or duration; infinity; boundlessness. Not till the weight is heaved from off the air, and the thunders roll down the horizon, will the serene light of God flow upon us, and the blue infinite embrace us again. J. Martineau.

fter the same manner in vacuo as in the open air,and therefore are not influenced by the weight or pressure of the atmosphere. Sir I. Newton. This standing revelation . . . is sufficient to influence their faith and practice, if they attend. Attebury. The principle which influenced their obedience has lost its efficacy…

A leaning; pressure; weight. [R.] Sir T. Browne.

Having no weight or effect; answering no purpose; unimportant; valueless; futile. Laws must be insignificant without the sanction of rewards and punishments. Bp. Wilkins.

The magnitude of a distributed force, as pressure, stress, weight, etc., per unit of surface, or of volume, as the case may be; as, the measure of the intensity of a total stress of forty pounds which is distributed uniformly over a surface of four square inches area is ten pounds per square inch.

Admixture; an additional ingredient. In this height of impiety there wanted not an intermixture of levity and folly. Bacon.

Of no force, weight, or cogency; not valid; weak.

esembling plumbago, soft but brittle, and emitting a chlorinelike odor. Symbol I. Atomic weight 126.5. If heated, iodine volatilizes in beautiful violet vapors.

, it is the heaviest substance known, its specific gravity being 22.4. Symbol Ir. Atomic weight 192.5.

by moisture, and is attacked by many corrosive agents. Symbol Fe (Latin Ferrum). Atomic weight 55.9. Specific gravity, pure iron, 7.86; cast iron, 7.1. In magnetic properties, it is superior to all other substances.

To increase the action or violence of; to heighten excitement in; to intensify; to stimulate. Cold maketh the spirits vigorous and irritateth them. Bacon.

A line connecting or marking places upon the surface of the earth where height of the barometer reduced to sea level is the same either at a given time, or for a certain period (mean height), as for a year; an isopiestic line. [Written also isobare.]

The quality or state of being equal in weight, especially in atmospheric pressure. Also, the theory, method, or application of isobaric science.