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The quality or condition of being instrumental; that which is instrumental; anything used as a means; medium; agency. The instrumentality of faith in justification. Bp. Burnet. The discovery of gunpowder developed the science of attack and defense in a new instrumentality. J. H. Newman.

The act of breathing on or into anything; especially:

Untouched, especially by anything that harms, defiles, or the like; uninjured; undefiled; left complete or entire. Buckle. When all external differences have passed away, one element remains intact, unchanged, -- the everlasting basis of our common nature, the human soul. F. W. Robertson.

ing, as a gem, so as to make a design depressed below the surface of the material; hence, anything so carved or impressed, as a gem, matrix, etc.; -- opposed to cameo. Also used adjectively.

The insertion or introduction of anything among others, as the insertion of a phrase, line, or verse in a metrical composition; specif. (Geol.), the intrusion of a bed or layer between other layers. Intercalations of fresh-water species in some localities. Mantell.

One who, or that which, intercepts or stops anything on the passage. Wiseman.

The act of introducing or inserting anything, especially that which is spurious or foreign.

Anything swollen or enlarged, as a tumor.

The incoming or first attack of anything hurtful or pernicious; as, the invasion of a disease.

The faculty of inventing; imaginative faculty; skill or ingenuity in contriving anything new; as, a man of invention. They lay no less than a want of invention to his charge; a capital crime, . . . for a poet is a maker. Dryden.

That in which anything is involved, folded, or wrapped; envelope. Sir T. Browne.

Anything made of iron; -- a general name of such parts or pieces of a building, vessel, carriage, etc., as consist of iron.

Anything regarded as resembling an island; as, an island of ice.

An outer covering for anything, esp. a covering of some nonconducting material such as wood or felt, used to prevent radiation of heat, as from a steam boiler, cylinder, pipe, etc.

Fig.: Anything resembling the jaw of an animal in form or action; esp., pl., the mouth or way of entrance; as, the jaws of a pass; the jaws of darkness; the jaws of death. Shak.

Anything brought to a gelatinous condition; a viscous, translucent substance in a condition between liquid and solid; a stiffened solution of gelatin, gum, or the like.

To make merriment by words or actions; to joke; to make light of anything. He jests at scars that never felt a wound. Shak.

perience, sufficient to decide on the merits of a question, or on the quality or value of anything; one who discerns properties or relations with skill and readiness; a connoisseur; an expert; a critic. A man who is no judge of law may be a good judge of poetry, or eloquence, or of the merits of a painting. Dryden.…

To perch on anything, as birds do. [Obs.]

A cap for retaining anything, as a journal box, in place. To take keep, to take care; to heed. [Obs.] Chaucer.