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To peel off in the form of scales; to scale off, as the skin in certain diseases.

Capable of being determined, definitely ascertained, decided upon, or brought to a conclusion. Not wholly determinable from the grammatical use of the words. South.

sum of a series of products of several numbers, these products being formed according to certain specified laws; thus, the determinant of the nine numbers. a, b, c,a', b', c',a'\'b7, b'\'b7, c'\'b7, is a b' c'\'b7 -- a b'\'b7 c' + a' b'\'b7 c] -- a' b c'\'b7 + a'\'b7 b' c. The determinant is written by placing the num…

Having defined limits; not uncertain or arbitrary; fixed; established; definite. Quantity of words and a determinate number of feet. Dryden.

In a determinate manner; definitely; ascertainably. The principles of religion are already either determinately true or false, before you think of them. Tillotson.

Direction or tendency to a certain end; impulsion. Remissness can by no means consist with a constant determination of the will . . . to the greatest apparent good. Locke.

To ascertain definitely; to find out the specific character or name of; to assign to its true place in a system; as, to determine an unknown or a newly discovered plant or its name.

second canon, or ecclesiastical writing of inferior authority; -- said of the Apocrypha, certain Epistles, etc.

Of secondary origin; -- said of certain rocks whose material has been derived from older rocks.

To change the form of, as of an algebraic expression, by executing certain indicated operations without changing the value.

The fruit of certain species of bramble (Rubus); in England, the fruit of R. cæsius, which has a glaucous bloom; in America, that of R. canadensis and R. hispidus, species of low blackberries.

To ascertain by diagnosis; to diagnosticate. See Diagnosticate.

That part of medicine which has to do with ascertaining the nature of diseases by means of their symptoms or signs. His rare skill in diagnostics. Macaulay.

ne or more plates having numbers or letters upon them. These plates must be adjusted in a certain determined way before the lock can be operated. -- Dial plate, the plane or disk of a dial or timepiece on which lines and figures for indicating the time are placed.

A dark green or bronze-colored laminated variety of pyroxene, common in certain igneous rocks.

One of certain stops in the organ, so called because they extend through the scale of the instrument. They are of several kinds, as open diapason, stopped diapason, double diapason, and the like.

A calcareous plate which divides the cavity of certain shells into two parts.

The condition of certain species of plants, in which the stamens and pistil do not mature simultaneously, so that these plants can never fertilize themselves.

two color varieties, or two phases differing in color, independently of age or sex, as in certain birds and insects.

I applied myself to the perusal of our writers; and noting whatever might be of use to ascertain or illustrate any word or phrase, accumulated in time the materials of a dictionary. Johnson.