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n from the ovum to make room for the chromatin of the fertilizing spermatozoön; but their functions are not fully understood. -- Polar circles (Astron. & Geog.), two circles, each at a distance from a pole of the earth equal to the obliquity of the ecliptic, or about 23º 28', the northern called the arctic circle, and…

A ticket or warrant for money in the public funds.

One who prepared corpses for the funeral.

The assumption of several structural forms without a corresponding difference in function; -- said of sponges, etc.

A genus of fungi having the under surface full of minute pores; also, any fungus of this genus.

gation of properties or rights, belonging to different people in a community, in a common fund, to be charged with common liabilities. Pin pool, a variety of the game of billiards in which small wooden pins are set up to be knocked down by the balls. -- Pool ball, one of the colored ivory balls used in playing the gam…

Hence: The office and functions of a minister of state or member of the cabinet; as, to receive the portfolio of war; to resign the portfolio.

In the theory of gravitation, or of other forces acting in space, a function of the rectangular coordinates which determine the position of a point, such that its differential coefficients with respect to the coördinates are equal to the components of the force at the point considered; -- also called potential function…

ed from practice; as, practical skill. Practical joke, a joke put in practice; a joke the fun of which consists in something done, in distinction from something said; esp., a trick played upon a person.

Actual performance; application of knowledge; -- opposed to theory. There are two functions of the soul, -- contemplation and practice. South. There is a distinction, but no opposition, between theory and practice; each, to a certain extent, supposes the other; theory is dependent on practice; practice must have preced…

To uphold or encourage prelacy; to exercise prelatical functions. An episcopacy that began then to prelatize. Milton.

An exclusive or peculiar privilege; prior and indefeasible right; fundamental and essential possession; -- used generally of an official and hereditary right which may be asserted without question, and for the exercise of which there is no responsibility or accountability as to the fact and the manner of its exercise.…

The function or condition of one who presides; superintendence; control and care.

A fund for the support of a priest, without the title of a benefice. The patron in the collator.

The office or character of a priest; the priestly function. Bk. of Com. Prayer.

First in order of time or development or in intention; primitive; fundamental; original. The church of Christ, in its primary institution. Bp. Pearson. These I call original, or primary, qualities of body. Locke.

d (Mus.), that chord, the lowest note of which is of the same literal denomination as the fundamental base of the harmony; -- opposed to derivative. Moore (Encyc. of Music). -- Primitive circle (Spherical Projection), the circle cut from the sphere to be projected, by the primitive plane. -- Primitive colors (Paint.)…

A thing of chief or prime importance; something fundamental or especially conspicuous. Specifically:

First principles; fundamental beginnings; elements; as. Newton's Principia.

A source, or origin; that from which anything proceeds; fundamental substance or energy; primordial substance; ultimate element, or cause.