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or for the first time ascertained or recognized; as, the properties of the magnet were an important discovery.

The act of sending a message or messenger in haste or on important business.

r bearer; a statue of a man holding a spear or in the attitude of a spear bearer. Several important sculptures of this subject existed in antiquity, copies of which remain to us.

ness; destruction; ruin. Dire were the consequences which would follow the downfall of so important a place. Motley.

asting of draperies. See under Casting. The casting of draperies . . . is one of the most important of an artist's studies. Fairholt.

efore the invasion of tribes speaking Sanskrit. Of these languages, the Tamil is the most important.

Serious; important. [Obs.] They whom earnest lets do often hinder. Hooker.

To set aside as unimportant in a process of inductive inquiry; to leave out of consideration. Eliminate errors that have been gathering and accumulating. Lowth.

intends to impress specially upon his audience. The province of emphasis is so much more important than accent, that the customary seat of the latter is changed, when the claims of emphasis require it. E. Porter.

g, proclaiming, or making known; open attestation; declaration; as, the enunciation of an important truth. By way of interpretation and enunciation. Jer. Taylor.

er continued to live even during the dreary interval which separates from one another two important epochs of our literary history. A. W. Ward.

time reckoned from some particular date or epoch; a succession of years dating from some important event; as, the era of Alexander; the era of Christ, or the Christian era (see under Christian). The first century of our era. M. Arnold.

Important in the highest degree; indispensable to the attainment of an object; indispensably necessary. Judgment's more essential to a general Than courage. Denham. How to live -- that is the essential question for us. H. Spencer.

ystal by the action of an appropriate solvent. They have usually a definite form, and are important as revealing the molecular structure. -- Etching needle, a sharp-pointed steel instrument with which lines are drawn in the ground or varnish in etching. -- Etching stitch (Needlework), a stitch used outline embroidery…

f ordinary illuminating gas. It is the second member of the paraffin series, and its most important derivatives are common alcohol, aldehyde, ether, and acetic acid. Called also dimethyl.

A colorless, gaseous hydrocarbon, C2H4, forming an important ingredient of illuminating gas, and also obtained by the action of concentrated sulphuric acid in alcohol. It is an unsaturated compound and combines directly with chlorine and bromine to form oily liquids (Dutch liquid), -- hence called olefiant gas. Called…

Fig.: To make empty; to deprive. [R.] Evacuate the Scriptures of their most important meaning. Coleriage.

ristians eve is the evening before Christmas; also, the period immediately preceding some important event. "On the eve of death." Keble. Eve churr (Zoöl), the European goatsucker or nightjar; -- called also night churr, and churr owl.

ation or digression appended to a work, and containing a more extended exposition of some important point or topic.

n; application; use; habitual activity; occupation, in general; practice. exercise of the important function confided by the constitution to the legislature. Jefferson. O we will walk this world, Yoked in all exercise of noble end. Tennyson.