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ities whose values are given. -- Unknown quantities (Math.), quantities whose values are sought.

The subject of eager desire; that which is sought after, or prosecuted, with unreasonable or excessive passion; as, to be all the rage.

ernatives conceived of, by preference to, or as more likely than, the other; somewhat. He sought throughout the world, but sought in vain, And nowhere finding, rather feared her slain. Dryden.

Sought out with care; choice. Hence: of rare quality, elegance, or attractiveness; peculiar and refined in kind.

. He has rendered himself worthy of their most favorable regards. A. Smith. Save the long-sought regards of woman, nothing is sweeter than those marks of childish preference. Hawthorne.

ation; as, materials are collected for the repair of a church or of a city. Sunk down and sought repair Of sleep, which instantly fell on me. Milton.

A state of being desired or held in such estimation as to be sought after or asked for; demand. Knowledge and fame were in as great request as wealth among us now. Sir W. Temple. Court of Requests. (a) A local tribunal, sometimes called Court of Consience, founded by act of Parliament to facilitate the recovery of smal…

Sought for; demanded. [R.] Summary on Du Bartas (1621).

ure, and spared no cost to make a delicious retreat. L'Estrange. That pleasing shade they sought, a soft retreat From sudden April showers, a shelter from the heat. Dryden.

steps are taken in another operation considered as direct; an operation in which that is sought which in another operation is given, and that given which in the other is sought; as, finding the length of a pendulum from its time of vibration is the reverse operation to finding the time of vibration from the length.…

which anyone has in a piece of property; title; claim; interest; ownership. Born free, he sought his right. Dryden. Hast thou not right to all created things Milton. Men have no right to what is not reasonable. Burke.

A small stream or brook; a streamlet. By fountain or by shady rivulet He sought them. Milton.

, an aiming at romantic effects; -- applied to the productions of a school of writers who sought to revive certain medi He [Lessing] may be said to have begun the revolt from pseudo- classicism in poetry, and to have been thus unconsciously the founder of romanticism. Lowell.

To conduct safely; to give safe-conduct to. [POetic] He him by all the bonds of love besought To safe-conduct his love. Spenser.

To inquire for; to ask for; to solicit; to bessech. Others, tempting him, sought of him a sign. Luke xi. 16.

r commands, and another attends the Court Chancery. The sergeant of the town of Rome them sought. Chaucer. The magistrates sent the serjeant, saying, Let those men go. Acts xvi. 35. This fell sergeant, Death, Is strict in his arrest. Shak.

to which a hunted boar resorts for refuge; hence, a wet place, stream, or tract of water, sought for by other game, as deer. As deer, being stuck, fly through many soils, Yet still the shaft sticks fast. Marston. To take soil, to run into the mire or water; hence, to take refuge or shelter. O, sir, have you taken soil…

. He was a scholar . . . Lofty and sour to them that loved him not, But to those men that sought him sweet as summer. Shak.

One of a sect which arose in the days of alchemy, who sought to discover remedies for disease by chemical means. The spagyrists historically preceded the iatrochemists. Encyc. Brit.

power in a state. Blackstone. The Puritans in the reign of Mary, driven from their homes, sought an asylum in Geneva, where they found a state without a king, and a church without a bishop. R. Choate.