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To use words of equivocal or doubtful signification; to express one's opinions in terms which admit of different senses, with intent to deceive; to use ambiguous expressions with a view to mislead; as, to equivocate is the work of duplicity. All that Garnet had to say for him was that he supposed he meant to equivocate…

The use of expressions susceptible of a double signification, with a purpose to mislead. There being no room for equivocations, there is no need of distinctions. Locke.

An ambiguous term; a word susceptible of different significations. Coleridge.

Original or fundamental signification. [R.] Given as the etymon or genuine sense of the word. Coleridge.

uinous. In some words, it intensifies the meaning; in others, it has little affect on the signification. It becomes ef- before f, as in effuse. The form e- occurs instead of ex- before b, d, g, l, m, n, r, and v, as in ebullient, emanate, enormous, etc. In words from the French it often appears as es-, sometimes as s-…

ally, power to persuade, or convince, or impose obligation; pertinency; validity; special signification; as, the force of an appeal, an argument, a contract, or a term. He was, in the full force of the words, a good man. Macaulay.

gases have been liquified by cold and pressure, the term has resumed nearly its original signification, and is applied to any substance in the elastic or aëriform state.

Not restrained or limited to a precise import; not specific; vague; indefinite; lax in signification; as, a loose and general expression.

Unfolding the signification; of or pertaining to interpretation; exegetical; explanatory; as, hermeneutic theology, or the art of expounding the Scriptures; a hermeneutic phrase.

An idiom; a form, mode of expression, or signification, peculiar to a language. Scholars sometimes give terminations and idiotisms, suitable to their native language, unto words newly invented. M. Hale.

That which a word, phrase, or document contains as its signification or intention or interpretation of a word, action, event, and the like.

The specific signification of in is situation or place with respect to surrounding, environment, encompassment, etc. It is used with verbs signifying being, resting, or moving within limits, or within circumstances or conditions of any kind conceived of as limiting, confining, or investing, either wholly or in part. In…

Not significant; void of signification, sense, or import; meaningless; as, insignificant words.

Extent or breadth of signification, application, etc.; extent of deviation from a standard, as truth, style, etc. No discreet man will believe Augustine's miracles, in the latitude of monkish relations. Fuller.

n matters of the passions. J. A. Symonds. The word "æternus" itself is sometimes of a lax signification. Jortin.

Verbal expression; literal statement or meaning; exact signification or requirement. We must observe the letter of the law, without doing violence to the reason of the law and the intention of the lawgiver. Jer. Taylor. I broke the letter of it to keep the sense. Tennyson.

The science of the derivation and signification of words; that branch of learning which treats of the signification and application of words.

The science of languages, or of the origin, signification, and application of words; glossology.

That which is signified, whether by act lanquage; signification; sence; import; as, the meaning of a hint.

The continuation of a trope in one word through a succession of significations, or the union of two or more tropes of a different kind in one word.