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urfaces, either both curved, or one curved and the other plane, and commonly used, either singly or combined, in optical instruments, for changing the direction of rays of light, and thus magnifying objects, or otherwise modifying vision. In practice, the curved surfaces are usually spherical, though rarely cylindrical…

of that which moves, excites, or invites the mind to volition, whether that be one thing singly, or many things conjunctively. J. Edwards.

y; tidy. If you were to see her, you would wonder what poor body it was that was so surprisingly neat and clean. Law.

ys. [Obs.] Chaucer. -- In one, in union; in a single whole. -- One and one, One by one, singly; one at a time; one after another."Raising one by one the suppliant crew." Dryden.

Singly; without more; as, only-begotten.

x, the apparent displacement in position undergone by an object when viewed by either eye singly. Brande & C. -- Parallax of the cross wires (of an optical instrument), their apparent displacement when the eye changes its position, caused by their not being exactly in the focus of the object glass. -- Stellar paralla…

Exceedingly; excessively; surpassingly; as, passing fair; passing strange. "You apprehend passing shrewdly." Shak.

r; having slight or diminutive beauty; neat or elegant without elevation or grandeur; pleasingly, but not grandly, conceived or expressed; as, a pretty face; a pretty flower; a pretty poem. This is the prettiest lowborn lass that ever Ran on the greensward. Shak.

bor with affairs of state. Locke. Some figures monstrous and misshaped appear, Considered singly, or beheld too near; Which, but proportioned to their light or place, Due distance reconciles to form and grace. Pope.

Each particular taken singly; an item; a detail; an individual. [Obs.] There was not time enough to hear . . . The severals. Shak.

Each particular taken singly; distinction. [Obs.] Bp. Hall.

A device for silencing the report of a firearm shooting its projectiles singly, as a tubular attachment for the muzzle having circular plates that permit the passage of the projectile but impart a rotary motion to, and thus retard, the exploding gases.

Singly; alone; only; without another; as, to rest a cause solely one argument; to rely solelyn one's own strength.

Occuring singly, or apart from other things of the same kind, or in scattered instances; separate; single; as, a sporadic fireball; a sporadic case of disease; a sporadic example of a flower. Sporadic disease (Med.), a disease which occurs in single and scattered cases. See the Note under Endemic, a.…

, adv. Increasingly. The best times were spreadingly infected. Milton.

At Athens, one who (singly, or jointly with other citizens) had to fit out a trireme for the public service.

eight of this said time." Shak. For the public all this weight he bears. Milton. [He] who singly bore the world's sad weight. Keble.