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A twist or loop in a rope or thread, caused by a spontaneous doubling or winding upon itself; a close loop or curl; a doubling in a cord.

ch renders the milk sour, and precipitates the casein, thus giving rise to the so- called spontaneous coagulation of milk. -- Lactic fermentation. See under Fermentation.

t. -- Dëbereiner's lamp, an apparatus for the instantaneous production of a flame by the spontaneous ignition of a jet of hydrogen on being led over platinum sponge; -- named after the German chemist Döbereiner, who invented it. Called also philosopher's lamp. -- Flameless lamp, an aphlogistic lamp. -- Lamp burner,…

Capable of being moved, aroused, or excited; capable of spontaneous movement.

In a natural manner or way; according to the usual course of things; spontaneously.

; first production. "The origination of the universe." Keill. What comes from spirit is a spontaneous origination. Hickok.

A believer in panspermy; one who rejects the theory of spontaneous generation; a biogenist.

ine that all organisms must come from living parents; biogenesis; -- the opposite of Ant: spontaneous generation.

ompt, and acting harmoniously in obedience to the will, enabling one to reach, as it were spontaneously or by intuition, just conclusions in sudden emergencies.

ccessive production; as, the propagation of animals or plants. There is not in nature any spontaneous generation, but all come by propagation. Ray.

or pertaining to pyrophorus. Pyrophoric iron (Chem.), finely reduced iron, which ignites spontaneously on contact with air.

Any one of several substances or mixtures which phosphoresce or ignite spontaneously on exposure to air, as a heated mixture of alum, potash, and charcoal, or a mixture of charcoal and finely divided lead.

pound of silicon, or one regarded as binary. [R.] Hydrogen silicide (Chem.), a colorless, spontaneously inflammable gas, SiH4, produced artifically from silicon, and analogous to methane; -- called also silico-methane, silicon hydride, and formerly siliciureted hydrogen.

The quality or state of being spontaneous, or acting from native feeling, proneness, or temperament, without constraint or external force. Romney Leigh, who lives by diagrams, And crosses not the spontaneities Of all his individual, personal life With formal universals. Mrs. Browning.

The act or phenomenon of spontaneously dividing transversely, as do certain species of annelids and helminths; transverse fission. See Illust. under Syllidian.

Spontaneous; voluntary. [Obs.] Jer. Taylor. -- Ul*tro"ne*ous*ly, adv. [Obs.] -- Ul*tro"ne*ous*ness, n. [Obs.]

A sour liquid used as a condiment, or as a preservative, and obtained by the spontaneous (acetous) fermentation, or by the artificial oxidation, of wine, cider, beer, or the like.

Produced or effected by force; not spontaneous; unnatural; abnormal. These violent delights have violent ends. Shak. No violent state can be perpetual. T. Burnet. Ease would recant Vows made in pain, as violent and void. Milton. Violent presumption (Law), presumption of a fact that arises from proof of circumstances wh…

In a voluntary manner; of one's own will; spontaneously.

The quality or state of being voluntary; spontaneousness; specifically, the quality or state of being free in the exercise of one's will.