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The meaning attributed to anything by one who explains it; definition; inerpretation; sense. Different explanations [of the Trinity]. Bp. Burnet.

To unfold the meaning or sense of; to explain; to clear of difficulties or obscurity; to interpret. The last verse of his last satire is not yet sufficiently explicated. Dryden.

Having no disguised meaning or reservation; unreserved; outspoken; -- applied to persons; as, he was earnest and explicit in his statement. Explicit function. (Math.) See under Function.

In an explicit manner; clearly; plainly; without disguise or reservation of meaning; not by inference or implication; as, he explicitly avows his intention.

calculus; an exponential function. Exponential curve, a curve whose nature is defined by means of an exponential equation. -- Exponential equation, an equation which contains an exponential quantity, or in which the unknown quantity enters as an exponent. -- Exponential quantity (Math.), a quantity whose exponent is…

The act of expounding or of laying open the sense or meaning of an author, or a passage; explanation; interpretation; the sense put upon a passage; a law, or the like, by an interpreter; hence, a work containing explanations or interpretations; a commentary. You know the law; your exposition Hath been most sound. Shak.…

To lay open the meaning of; to explain; to clear of obscurity; to interpret; as, to expound a text of Scripture, a law, a word, a meaning, or a riddle. Expound this matter more fully to me. Bunyan.

Lively or vivid representation of meaning, sentiment, or feeling, etc.; significant and impressive indication, whether by language, appearance, or gesture; that manner or style which gives life and suggestive force to ideas and sentiments; as, he reads with expression; her performance on the piano has expression. The i…

Full of expression; vividly representing the meaning or feeling meant to be conveyed; significant; emphatic; as, expressive looks or words. You have restrained yourself within the list of too cold an adieu; be more expressive to them. Shak. Through her expressive eyes her soul distinctly spoke. Littelton. -- Ex*press"i…

le; -- said of intervals; as, an extreme sharp second; an extreme flat forth. Extreme and mean ratio (Geom.), the relation of a line and its segments when the line is so divided that the whole is to the greater segment is to the less. -- Extreme distance. (Paint.) See Distance., n., 6. -- Extreme unction. See under U…

s or converse; mild; courteous; not haughty, austere, or distant; affable; complaisant. I meant she should be courteous, facile, sweet. B. Jonson.

of a thing done or existing; sometimes, even when false, improperly put, by a transfer of meaning, for the thing done, or supposed to be done; a thing supposed or asserted to be done; as, history abounds with false facts. I do not grant the fact. De Foe. This reasoning is founded upon a fact which is not true. Roger Lo…

A vapid or meaningless remark; a commonplace; nonsense.

The refuse or meaner part of anything. The fag-end of business. Collier.

Honestly; properly. Such means of comfort or even luxury, as lay fairly within their grasp. Hawthorne.

The sport of taking wild fowl or game by means of falcons or hawks.

ned; easy; accessible. "In loose, familiar strains." Addison. Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar. Shak.

by the close stickling thereof, seemeth well cut out and proportioned to signify what is meant thereby, even the sectaries of our age. Fuller (1660). Fanatics are governed rather by imagination than by judgment. Stowe.

Puppets caused to perform evolutions or dramatic scenes by means of machinery; also, the representations in which they are used.

nual fast. Fast day, a day appointed for fasting, humiliation, and religious offices as a means of invoking the favor of God. -- To break one's fast, to put an end to a period of abstinence by taking food; especially, to take one's morning meal; to breakfast. Shak.