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The act or process of devolving;; devolution.

The gradual formation or production of organs or parts by a process of evolution or development, as when the seed develops the root and the stem, the initial stem develops the leaf, branches, and flower buds; or in animal life, when the germ evolves the digestive and other organs and members, or when the animals as the…

plex substances, within the organism, into simpler ones suitable only for excretion, with evolution of energy, -- a normal nutritional process the reverse of assimilation; downward metabolism. The breaking down of already existing chemical compounds into simpler ones, sometimes called disassimilation. Martin.…

to deter, from an undertaking, or from the prosecution of anything; a determent; as, the revolution was commenced under every possible discouragement. "Discouragements from vice." Swift.

s, a diurnal fever; a diurnal task; diurnal aberration, or diurnal parallax; the diurnal revolution of the earth. Ere twice the horses of the sun shall bring Their fiery torcher his diurnal ring. Shak.

Belonging to that space of time in which the moon performs one revolution, from ascending node to ascending node. See Dragon's head, under Dragon. [Obs.] "Dracontic month." Crabb.

to hold back. A propeller is said to drag when the sails urge the vessel faster than the revolutions of the screw can propel her. Russell.

To train in the military art; to exercise diligently, as soldiers, in military evolutions and exercises; hence, to instruct thoroughly in the rudiments of any art or branch of knowledge; to discipline. He [Frederic the Great] drilled his people, as he drilled his grenadiers. Macaulay.

One of the natives of France who were opposed to the first Revolution, and who left their country in consequence.

The abnormal change of an irregular flower to a regular form; - - considered by evolutionists to be a reversion to an ancestral condition.

merely expanded, by the procreative power of the parents. It is opposed to the theory of evolution, also to syngenesis.

plane passes through through the center of the body, and is perpendicular to its axis of revolution. -- Magnetic equator. See Aclinic.

To become open, disclosed, or developed; to pass through a process of evolution. Prior.

The act of evolving, or the state of being evolved; evolution.

Characterized by, or formed with, evolution of heat; as, an exothermic reaction; -- opposed to endothermic.

f a given number or quantity. (b) The method or rule by which the operation is performed; evolution.

Puppets caused to perform evolutions or dramatic scenes by means of machinery; also, the representations in which they are used.

The evolution of light and heat in the combustion of bodies; combustion; state of ignition.

s. Flash light, or Flashing light, a kind of light shown by lighthouses, produced by the revolution of reflectors, so as to show a flash of light every few seconds, alternating with periods of dimness. Knight. -- Flash in the pan, the flashing of the priming in the pan of a flintlock musket without discharging the pie…

pinning frame, over which the thread passes to the bobbin; -- so called from their swift revolution. See Fly, n., 11.