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Principality; supreme rule. [Obs.] Barrow.

A settled rule of action; a governing law of conduct; an opinion or belief which exercises a directing influence on the life and behavior; a rule (usually, a right rule) of conduct consistently directing one's actions; as, a person of no principle. All kinds of dishonesty destroy our pretenses to an honest principle of…

t pass in a convent, to probe his or her virtue and ability to bear the severities of the rule. (b) The trial of a ministerial candidate's qualifications prior to his ordination, or to his settlement as a pastor. (c) Moral trial; the state of man in the present life, in which he has the opportunity of proving his chara…

To have application or effect; to operate. This rule only proceeds and takes place when a person can not of common law condemn another by his sentence. Ayliffe.

To stretch or contract according to some rule or standard.

Of or pertaining to a profession, or calling; conforming to the rules or standards of a profession; following a profession; as, professional knowledge; professional conduct. "Pride, not personal, but professional." Macaulay. "A professional sneerer." De Quincey.

The art of preserving from, or of preventing, disease; the observance of the rules necessary for the preservation of health; preservative or preventive treatment.

The portion one receives when a whole is distributed by a rule or principle; equal or proper share; lot. Let the women . . . do the same things in their proportions and capacities. Jer. Taylor.

quality or state of being proper; suitableness to an acknowledged or correct standard or rule; consonance with established principles, rules, or customs; fitness; appropriateness; as, propriety of behavior, language, manners, etc. "The rule of propriety," Locke.

Of or pertaining to prosody; according to the rules of prosody. -- Pro*sod"ic*al*ly, adv.

One of a class of amorphous nitrogenous principles, containing, as a rule, a small amount of sulphur; an albuminoid, as blood fibrin, casein of milk, etc. Proteids are present in nearly all animal fluids and make up the greater part of animal tissues and organs. They are also important constituents of vegetable tissues…

, discretion or prudence; -- usually in the pl. Many stanzas, in poetic measures, contain rules relating to common prudentials as well as to religion. I. Watts.

Having a finely powdered surface; pulverulent.

ors with death; a father punishes his child for willful disobedience. A greater power Now ruled him, punished in the shape he sinned. Milton.

ng green shall mean the ground within twenty yards of the hole, excepting hazards." Golf Rules.

e, of nonresistance. -- Quaker ladies (Bot.), a low American biennial plant (Houstonia cærulea), with pretty four-lobed corollas which are pale blue with a yellowish center; -- also called bluets, and little innocents.

ial, and fundamental constituent of any compound; hence, sometimes, an atom. As a general rule, the metallic atoms are basic radicals, while the nonmetallic atoms are acid radicals. J. P. Cooke.

Reign; rule. [India]

ng, or caused by, rancor; deeply malignant; implacably spiteful or malicious; intensely virulent. So flamed his eyes with rage and rancorous ire. Spenser.

A roving motion; course without definite direction; want of direction, rule, or method; hazard; chance; -- commonly used in the phrase at random, that is, without a settled point of direction; at hazard. Counsels, when they fly At random, sometimes hit most happily. Herrick. O, many a shaft, at random sent, Finds mark…