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more numbers or quantities taken with regard to their signs, as + or -, according to the rules of addition in algebra; thus, the algebraic sum of -2, 8, and -1 is 5. -- In sum, in short; in brief. [Obs.] "In sum, the gospel . . . prescribes every virtue to our conduct, and forbids every sin." Rogers.…

for a time from operation or effect; as, to suspend the habeas corpus act; to suspend the rules of a legislative body.

A precept; an aphorism; a brief rule.

To influence or direct by power and authority; by persuasion, or by moral force; to rule; to govern; to guide. The will of man is by his reason swayed. Shak. She could not sway her house. Shak. This was the race To sway the world, and land and sea subdue. Dryden.

nce of Pleiades Job xxxviii. 31. Mildness and sweet reasonableness is the one established rule of Christian working. M. Arnold.

To wander from any line prescribed, or from a rule or duty; to depart from what is established by law, duty, custom, or the like; to deviate. I swerve not from thy commandments. Bk. of Com. Prayer. They swerve from the strict letter of the law. Clarendon. Many who, through the contagion of evil example, swerve exceedin…

Hence, the emblem of judicial vengeance or punishment, or of authority and power. He [the ruler] beareth not the sword in vain. Rom. xiii. 4. She quits the balance, and resigns the sword. Dryden.

Joint rule or sovereignity. [R.] Stackhouse.

Of or pertaining to syntax; according to the rules of syntax, or construction. -- Syn*tac"tic*al*ly, adv.

r plant, essential to the performance of some particular function or functions which as a rule are of greater complexity than those manifested by a single organ; as, the capillary system, the muscular system, the digestive system, etc.; hence, the whole body as a functional unity.

; to follow the business of a tailor. These tailoring artists for our lays Invent cramped rules. M. Green.

r of (anything) by taking a small quantity into a mouth. Also used figuratively. When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine. John ii. 9. When Commodus had once tasted human blood, he became incapable of pity or remorse. Gibbon.

A feasting at taverns. [Obs.] "The misrule of our tavernings." Bp. Hall.

knowledge of; to give intelligence concerning; to impart, as knowledge before unknown, or rules for practice; to inculcate as true or important; to exhibit impressively; as, to teach arithmetic, dancing, music, or the like; to teach morals. If some men teach wicked things, it must be that others should practice them. S…

ern; to manage. [A Latinism & Obs.] With which the damned ghosts he governeth, And furies rules, and Tartare tempereth. Spenser.

The act of tempering or modifying; adjustment, as of clashing rules, interests, passions, or the like; also, the means by which such adjustment is effected. Wholesome temperaments of the rashness of popular assemblies. Sir J. Mackintosh.

which excites dread; a cause of extreme fear. Those enormous terrors of the Nile. Prior. Rulers are not a terror to good works. Rom. xiii. 3. There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats. Shak.

That which is considered and established as a principle; hence, sometimes, a rule. Not theories, but theorems (Coleridge. By the theorems, Which your polite and terser gallants practice, I re-refine the court, and civilize Their barbarous natures. Massinger.

A tubular cone for expanding a flue; -- called ferrule in England.

C. Ch.), an order attached to a monastic order, and comprising men and women devoted to a rule of pious living, called the third rule, by a simple vow if they remain seculars, and by more solemn vows if they become regulars. See Tertiary, n., 1. -- Third person (Gram.), the person spoken of. See Person, n., 7. -- Thi…