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To be in force; to have effect, power, or influence; to be predominant; to have currency or prevalence; to obtain; as, the practice prevails this day. This custom makes the short-sighted bigots, and the warier skeptics, as far as it prevails. Locke.

Having superior force or influence; efficacious; persuasive. Shak. Saints shall assist thee with prevailing prayers. Rowe.

The quality or condition of being prevalent; superior strength, force, or influence; general existence, reception, or practice; wide extension; as, the prevalence of virtue, of a fashion, or of a disease; the prevalence of a rumor. The duke better knew what kind of argument were of prevalence with him. Clarendon.…

Gaining advantage or superiority; having superior force, influence, or efficacy; prevailing; predominant; successful; victorious. Brennus told the Roman embassadors, that prevalent arms were as good as any title. Sir W. Raleigh.

Anything, as goods, etc., taken or got by violence; anything taken by force from an enemy in war; spoil; booty; plunder. And they brought the captives, and the prey, and the spoil, unto Moses, and Eleazar the priest. Num. xxxi. 12.

ch.) (a) A natural agency applied by man to the production of power. Especially: Muscular force; the weight and motion of fluids, as water and air; heat obtained by chemical combination, and applied to produce changes in the volume and pressure of steam, air, or other fluids; and electricity, obtained by chemical actio…

Implying privation or negation; giving a negative force to a word; as, alpha privative; privative particles; -- applied to such prefixes and suffixes as a- (Gr. un-, non-, -less.

That which is taken from another; something captured; a thing seized by force, stratagem, or superior power. I will depart my pris, or may prey, by deliberation. Chaucer. His own prize, Whom formerly he had in battle won. Spenser.

Projecting or impelling forward; as, a projectile force.

been proved or tried; firmness or hardness that resists impression, or does not yield to force; impenetrability of physical bodies.

To drive forward; to urge or press onward by force; to move, or cause to move; as, the wind or steam propels ships; balls are propelled by gunpowder.

ous; merciful; helpful; -- said of a person or a divinity. Milton. And now t' assuage the force of this new flame, And make thee [Love] more propitious in my need. Spenser.

To thrust forward; to drive or force along. Locke.

ntagion, the transference of disease, especially of a functional nervous disease, by mere force of example. -- Psychical medicine, that department of medicine which treats of mental diseases.

Genesis through an internal force, as opposed to natural selection.

Power; strength; might; force; potency. " Youths of puissance." Tennyson. The power and puissance of the king. Shak.

The act of pulling or drawing with force; an effort to move something by drawing toward one. I awakened with a violent pull upon the ring which was fastened at the top of my box. Swift.

ortion of an estate allotted to a coparcener. [Written also purpart, and pourparty.] I am forced to eat all the game of your purparties, as well as my own thirds. Walpole.

To press against with force; to drive or impel by pressure; to endeavor to drive by steady pressure, without striking; -- opposed to draw. Sidelong had pushed a mountain from his seat. Milton.

The act of putting; an action; a movement; a thrust; a push; as, the put of a ball. "A forced put." L'Estrange.