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the whole embryo of the future organism and the germs of all subsequent offsprings and is merely awakened to activity by the spermatozoön; -- opposed to spermism or animalculism.

Done merely to get rid of a duty; performed mechanically and as a thing of rote; done in a careless and superficial manner; characterized by indifference; as, perfunctory admonitions. Macaulay.

One who does not try for honors, but is content to take a degree merely; a passman. [Cambridge Univ., Eng.]

in possibility, not in actuality. "A potential hero." Carlyle. Potential existence means merely that the thing may be at ome time; actual existence, that it now is. Sir W. Hamilton. Potential cautery. See under Cautery. -- Potential energy. (Mech.) See the Note under Energy. -- Potential mood, or mode (Gram.), that…

t than can be brought against it. South. I do not say that the principles of religion are merely probable; I have before asserted them to be morally certain. Bp. Wilkins.

The doctrine of the merely human existence of Christ.

cter of quality. -- Qual"i*ta*tive*ly, adv. Qualitative analysis (Chem.), analysis which merely determines the constituents of a substance without any regard to the quantity of each ingredient; -- contrasted with quantitative analysis.

d), a splice connecting the adjacent ends of rails, in distinction from a chair, which is merely a seat. The two devices are sometimes united. Among several hundred varieties, the fish joint is standard. See Fish joint, under Fish. -- Rail train (Iron & Steel Manuf.), a train of rolls in a rolling mill, for making rai…

ng from place to place without any determinate business or object; an excursion or stroll merely for recreation. Coming home, after a short Christians ramble. Swift.

is not imagination, fiction, or pretense; that which has objective existence, and is not merely an idea. And to realities yield all her shows. Milton. My neck may be an idea to you, but it is reality to me. Beattie.

mmon run of parks. Walpole. Burns never dreamed of looking down on others as beneath him, merely because he was conscious of his own vast superiority to the common run of men. Prof. Wilson. His whole appearance was something out of the common run. W. Irving. -- To let go by the run (Naut.), to loosen and let run freely…

Western North America and lives among sagebrush. By recent writers it is considered to be merely a variety of the common cottontail, or wood rabbit. -- Sage hen (Zoöl.), the female of the sage grouse. Sage sparrow (Zoöl.), a small sparrow (Amphispiza Belli, var Nevadensis) which inhabits the dry plains of the Rocky Mo…

as, acid potassium sulphate is an acid salt. (b) A salt, whatever its constitution, which merely gives an acid reaction; thus, copper sulphate, which is composed of a strong acid united with a weak base, is an acid salt in this sense, though theoretically it is a neutral salt. -- Alkaline salt (Chem.), a salt which gi…

Freedom from risk; safety. Give up yourself merely to chance and hazard, From firm security. Shak. Some . . . alleged that we should have no security for our trade. Swift.

ight to such possession by construction of law. In some of the United States seizin means merely ownership. Burrill.

ng or implying causative energy; as, the reactions of chemical agents may be conceived as merely invariable sequences.

er, or of changing the place of a thing; change; substitution. My going to Oxford was not merely for shift of air. Sir H. Wotton.

In a simple manner or state; considered in or by itself; without addition; along; merely; solely; barely. [They] make that now good or evil, . . . which otherwise of itself were not simply the one or the other. Hooker. Simply the thing I am Shall make me live. Shak.

Consisting of, or resembling, a skeleton; consisting merely of the framework or outlines; having only certain leading features of anything; as, a skeleton sermon; a skeleton crystal. Skeleton bill, a bill or draft made out in blank as to the amount or payee, but signed by the acceptor. [Eng.] -- Skeleton key, a key wit…

hatred and contempt. Many of the Sophists doubdtless card not for truth or morality, and merely professed to teach how to make the worse appear the better reason; but there scems no reason to hold that they were a special class, teaching special opinions; even Socrates and Plato were sometimes styled Sophists. Liddell…