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Having little size, compared with other things of the same kind; little in quantity or degree; diminutive; not large or extended in dimension; not great; not much; inconsiderable; as, a small man; a small river. To compare Great things with small. Milton.

In a small quantity or degree; with minuteness. [R.] Ascham.

In that manner or degree; as, indicated (in any way), or as implied, or as supposed to be known. Why is his chariot so long in coming Judges v. 28.

The quality, condition, or degree of being soluble or solvable; as, the solubility of a salt; the solubility of a problem or intricate difficulty.

djective suffix having primarily the sense of like or same, and indicating a considerable degree of the thing or quality denoted in the first part of the compound; as in mettlesome, full of mettle or spirit; gladsome, full of gladness; winsome, blithesome, etc.

In some degree; somewhat. [Written also sumdel, sumdeale, and sumdele.] [Obs.] "She was somedeal deaf." Chaucer. Thou lackest somedeal their delight. Spenser.

A part; a portion, more or less; an indefinite quantity or degree; a little. Something yet of doubt remains. Milton. Something of it arises from our infant state. I. Watts.

More or less; a certain quantity or degree; a part, more or less; something. These salts have somewhat of a nitrous taste. Grew. Somewhat of his good sense will suffer, in this transfusion, and much of the beauty of his thoughts will be lost. Dryden.

Efficacious in the highest degree; effectual; controlling; as, a sovereign remedy. Dryden. Such a sovereign influence has this passion upon the regulation of the lives and actions of men. South. Sovereign state, a state which administers its own government, and is not dependent upon, or subject to, another power.…

In a sovereign manner; in the highest degree; supremely. Chaucer.

Specific heat (Physics), the quantity of heat required to raise temperature of a body one degree, taking as the unit of measure the quantity required to raise the same weight of water from zero to one degree; thus, the specific heat of mercury is 0.033, that of water being 1.000. -- Specific inductive capacity (Physic…

ghly heated metal, it rolls about in spheroidal drops or masses, at a temperature several degrees below ebullition, and without actual contact with the heated surface, -- a phenomenon due to the repulsive force of heat, the intervention of a cushion of nonconducting vapor, and the cooling effect of evaporation.…

Figuratively, that which enriches or alters the quality of a thing in a small degree, as spice alters the taste of food; that which gives zest or pungency; a slight flavoring; a relish; hence, a small quantity or admixture; a sprinkling; as, a spice of mischief. So much of the will, with a spice of the willful. Colerid…

To draw out tediously; to form by a slow process, or by degrees; to extend to a great length; -- with out; as, to spin out large volumes on a subject. Do you mean that story is tediously spun out Sheridan.

The position of planets distant ninety degrees from each other; a quadrate. [Obs.]

A title of dignity next in degree below knight, and above gentleman. See Esquire. [Eng.] "His privy knights and squires." Chaucer.

A degree of advancement in a journey; one of several portions into which a road or course is marked off; the distance between two places of rest on a road; as, a stage of ten miles. A stage . . . signifies a certain distance on a road. Jeffrey. He traveled by gig, with his wife, his favorite horse performing the journe…

To get into one's power gradually and by imperceptible degrees; to take possession of by a gradual and imperceptible appropriation; -- with away. Variety of objects has a tendency to steal away the mind from its steady pursuit of any subject. I. Watts.

The intervak between two contiguous degrees of the csale.

ective. Like bristles rose my stiffening hair. Dryden. The tender soil then stiffening by degrees. Dryden. Some souls we see, Grow hard and stiffen with adversity. Dryden.