Search the Dictionary

Firm-footed; determined. [Slang, U.S.]

Not funded; not fixed, invested, or determined; as, floating capital; a floating debt. Trade was at an end. Floating capital had been withdrawn in great masses from the island. Macaulay. Floating anchor (Naut.), a drag or sea anchor; drag sail. -- Floating battery (Mil.), a battery erected on rafts or the hulls of shi…

ow in one direction and now in another; to be wavering or unsteady; to be irresolute or undetermined; to vacillate.

rs. Browning. Foregone conclusion, one which has preceded argument or examination; one predetermined.

That by which shape is given or determined; mold; pattern; model.

To reject or renounce upon oath; hence, to renounce earnestly, determinedly, or with protestations. I . . . do forswear her. Shak.

ed with yttrium and other rare metals. Its individuality and properties have not yet been determined.

Pertaining to, concerned with, or determined by, the genesis of anything, or its natural mode of production or development. This historical, genetical method of viewing prior systems of philosophy. Hare.

Of or pertaining to gebdesy; obtained or determined by the operations of geodesy; engaged in geodesy; geodesic; as, geodetic surveying; geodetic observers. Geodetic line or curve, the shortest line that can be drawn between two points on the elipsoidal surface of the earth; a curve drawn on any given surface so that th…

Pertaining to, or according to the rules or principles of, geometry; determined by geometry; as, a geometrical solution of a problem.

Pertaining to, or determined by means of, a goniometer; trigonometric.

adv. Gravimetric analysis (Chem.), analysis in which the amounts of the coastituents are determined by weight; -- in distinction from volumetric analysis.

joy, or grief. Both as uttered and as written, it expresses a great variety of emotions, determined by the tone or the context. When repeated, ha, ha, it is an expression of laughter, satisfaction, or triumph, sometimes of derisive laughter; or sometimes it is equivalent to "Well, it is so." Ha-has, and inarticulate h…

To be undetermined or uncertain; to be in suspense; to linger; to be delayed. A noble stroke he lifted high, Which hung not, but so swift with tempest fell On the proud crest of Satan. Milton. To hang around, to loiter idly about. -- To hang back, to hesitate; to falter; to be reluctant. "If any one among you hangs ba…

The cohesion of the particles on the surface of a body, determined by its capacity to scratch another, or be itself scratched;-measured among minerals on a scale of which diamond and talc form the extremes.

deliberately and pertinaciously refuses to believe one or more of the articles of faith "determined by the authority of the universal church." Addis & Arnold.

ology (Biol.), the correspondence of a part or organ with those of a different animal, as determined by relative position and connection. Owen.

A breaker or destroyer of images or idols; a determined enemy of idol worship.

es, and originally into three parts, called barleycorns, its length supposed to have been determined from three grains of barley placed end to end lengthwise. It is also sometimes called a prime ('), composed of twelve seconds ('\'b7), as in the duodecimal system of arithmetic. 12 seconds ('\'b7) make 1 inch or prime.…

Undetermined; prone to indecision; irresolute; unsettled; wavering; vacillating; hesitating; as, an indecisive state of mind; an indecisive character.