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Incapable of being reduced to a simpler form of expression; as, an irreducible formula. Irreducible case (Alg.), a particular case in the solution of a cubic equation, in which the formula commonly employed contains an imaginary quantity, and therefore fails in its application. -- Ir`re*du"ci*ble*ness, n. -- -- Ir`re…

Not reverent; showing a want of reverence; expressive of a want of veneration; as, an irreverent babbler; an irreverent jest.

Issuing or coming up; -- a term used to express a charge or bearing rising or coming out of another.

letter of the English alphabet. It is a later variant form of the Roman letter I, used to express a consonantal sound, that is, originally, the sound of English y in yet. The forms J and I have, until a recent time, been classed together, and they have been used interchangeably.

Expressing mirth, or inspiring it; exciting mirth and gayety. And with his jolly pipe delights the groves. Prior. Their jolly notes they chanted loud and clear. Fairfax.

d; gay; merry; joyful; also, affording or inspiring joy; with of before the word or words expressing the cause of joy. Is this your joyous city Is. xxiii. 7. They all as glad as birds of joyous prime. Spenser. And joyous of our conquest early won. Dryden.

e characteristic fluid of any vegetable or animal substance; the sap or part which can be expressed from fruit, etc.; the fluid part which separates from meat in cooking. An animal whose juices are unsound. Arbuthnot. The juice of July flowers. B. Jonson. The juice of Egypt's grape. Shak. Letters which Edward Digby wro…

Conformity to truth and reality in expressing opinions and in conduct; fair representation of facts respecting merit or demerit; honesty; fidelity; impartiality; as, the justice of a description or of a judgment; historical justice.

Acute of mind; sharp; penetrating; having or expressing mental acuteness; as, a man of keen understanding; a keen look; keen features. To make our wits more keen. Shak. Before the keen inquiry of her thought. Cowper.

Cold as a metallic key; lifeless. [Formerly, a proverbial expression.] Shak. Milton.

sist. -- To knock under, to yield; to submit; to acknowledge one's self conquered; -- an expression probably borrowed from the practice of knocking under the table with the knuckles, when conquered. "Colonel Esmond knocked under to his fate." Thackeray.

now obsolete, should be revived, as without it we are compelled to borrow "cognitions" to express its import. Sir W. Hamilton. To use a word of Bacon's, now unfortunately obsolete, we must determine the relative value of knowledges. H. Spencer.

by knocking the forehead on the ground. There are degrees in the rite, the highest being expressed by three knockings. [China]kowtow S. W. Williams.

The use of literal or simple expressions, as distinguished from the use of figurative or obscure ones. Krauth-Fleming.

An expression of languor.

Alack the day; alas; -- an expression of sorrow, regret, dissatisfaction, or surprise.

Expressing much in few words, after the manner of the Laconians or Spartans; brief and pithy; brusque; epigrammatic. In this sense laconic is the usual form. I grow laconic even beyond laconicism; for sometimes I return only yes, or no, to questionary or petitionary epistles of half a yard long. Pope. His sense was str…

A vigorous, brief manner of expression; laconic style.

acid results from fermentation. The two acids are alike in having the same constitution (expressed by the name ethylidene lactic acid), but the latter is optically inactive, while sarcolactic acid rotates the plane of polarization to the right. The third acid, ethylene lactic acid, accompanies sarcolactic acid in the…

To express or feel sorrow; to weep or wail; to mourn. Jeremiah lamented for Josiah. 2 Chron. xxxv. 25. Ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice. John xvi. 20.