Search the Dictionary

The act of criticising; a critical judgment passed or expressed; a critical observation or detailed examination and review; a critique; animadversion; censure. About the plan of "Rasselas" little was said by the critics; and yet the faults of the plan might seem to invite severe criticism. Macaulay.…

n a telescope, and moved by a screw with a graduated head, used for delicate astronomical observations; spider lines. Fixed cross wires are also used in microscopes, etc.

ach course as found by log, with allowance for leeway, etc., without the aid of celestial observations. -- Dead rise, the transverse upward curvature of a vessel's floor. -- Dead rising, an elliptical line drawn on the sheer plan to determine the sweep of the floorheads throughout the ship's length. -- Dead-Sea appl…

Pertaining to the dichroscope, or to observations with it.

. . Discountenance her despised! Milton. The hermit was somewhat discountenanced by this observation. Sir W. Scott.

Observation of difference; distinction. Graunt.

ining to, or containing, doctrine or something taught and to be believed; as, a doctrinal observation. "Doctrinal clauses." Macaulay.

One who confines himself to applying the results of mere experience or his own observation; especially, in medicine, one who deviates from the rules of science and regular practice; an ignorant and unlicensed pretender; a quack; a charlatan. Among the Greek physicians, those who founded their practice on experience cal…

Pertaining to, or founded upon, experiment or experience; depending upon the observation of phenomena; versed in experiments. In philosophical language, the term empirical means simply what belongs to or is the product of experience or observation. Sir W. Hamilton. The village carpenter . . . lays out his work by empir…

The method or practice of an empiric; pursuit of knowledge by observation and experiment.

antities from others on which they depend, when different sets of the latter, as given by observation, would yield different values of the quantities sought, and the number of equations that may be found is greater than the number of unknown quantities. -- Equation of a curve (Math.), an equation which expresses the r…

uth or justice; incorrect; false; mistaken; as, an erroneous doctrine; erroneous opinion, observation, deduction, view, etc. -- Er*ro"ne*ous*ly, adv. -- Er*ro"ne*ous*ness, n.

ort (Hydrography), a datum on which the tides are computed at the given port, obtained by observation, viz., the interval between the moon's passage over the meridian and the time of high water at the port, on the days of new and full moon.

requency of their occurrence or to vary the circumstances under which they occur; this is observation; or, secondly, by putting in action causes or agents over which we have control, and purposely varying their combinations, and noticing what effects take place; this is experiment. Sir J. Herschel.

Taught by practice or by repeated observations; skillful or wise by means of trials, use, or observation; as, an experienced physician, workman, soldier; an experienced eye. The ablest and most experienced statesmen. Bancroft.

. It is called empirical or experiential . . . because it is divan to us by experience or observation, and not obtained as the result of inference or reasoning. Sir. W. Hamiltion. -- Ex*pe`ri*en"tial*ly, adv. DR. H. More.

Atrial or special observation, made to confirm or disprove something doubtful; esp., one under conditions determined by the experimenter; an act or operation undertaken in order to discover some unknown principle or effect, or to test, establish, or illustrate some suggest or known truth; practical test; poof. A politi…

ger; accessibility to anything that may affect, especially detrimentally; as, exposure to observation, to cold to inconvenience. When we have our naked frailties hid, That suffer in exposure. Shak.

Observation; oversight; watch; inspection; notice; attention; regard. "Keep eyes upon her." Shak. Booksellers . . . have an eye to their own advantage. Addison.

Sight of the eye; the sense of seeing; view; observation. Josephus sets this down from his own eyesight. Bp. Wilkins.