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An active principle of Arnica montana. It is a bitter resin.

The quality or principle of plants or other substances which constitutes their fragrance; agreeable odor; as, the aroma of coffee.

A system of rules serving to facilitate the performance of certain actions; a system of principles and rules for attaining a desired end; method of doing well some special work; -- often contradistinguished from science or speculative principles; as, the art of building or engraving; the art of war; the art of navigati…

ose as a fact; to suppose or take arbitrarily or tentatively. The consequences of assumed principles. Whewell.

is versed in astronomy; one who has a knowledge of the laws of the heavenly orbs, or the principles by which their motions are regulated, with their various phenomena. An undevout astronomer is mad. Young.

Of or pertaining to astronomy; in accordance with the methods or principles of astronomy. -- As`tro*nom"ic*al*ly, adv. Astronomical clock. See under Clock. -- Astronomical day. See under Day. -- Astronomical fractions, Astronomical numbers. See under Sexagesimal.

The life principle, soul, or individual essence.

up at Augusta Vindelicorum, or Augsburg, by Luther and Melanchthon, in 1530, contains the principles of the Protestants, and their reasons for separating from the Roman Catholic church.

The action of the vital principle, or of the instinctive powers, toward the preservation of the individual; also, the vital principle. [In this sense, written also autocrasy.] Dunglison.

A pneumatic reproducer for a phonograph, controlled by the recording stylus on the principle of the relay. It produces much clearer and louder tones than does the ordinary vibrating disk reproducer.

ly, as something believed to be right; to own or acknowledge frankly; as, a man avows his principles or his crimes. Which I to be the of Israel's God Avow, and challenge Dagon to the test. Milton.

An open declaration; frank acknowledgment; as, an avowal of such principles. Hume.

An established principle in some art or science, which, though not a necessary truth, is universally received; as, the axioms of political economy.

The first principle of metals, i. e., mercury, which was formerly supposed to exist in all metals, and to be extractable from them.

Firmness; moral principle; steadfastness. Shelley's thought never had any backbone. Shairp. To the backbone, through and through; thoroughly; entirely. "Staunch to the backbone." Lord Lytton.

In mechanics an apparatus on the principle of the seesaw, in which one end rises as the other falls. Bascule bridge, a counterpoise or balanced drawbridge, which is opened by sinking the counterpoise and thus lifting the footway into the air.

Fig.: The fundamental or essential part of a thing; the essential principle; a groundwork.

The ground work the first or fundamental principle; that which supports. The basis of public credit is good faith. A. Hamilton.

y, in the Roman school, was, "multitude in unity;" and there is no doubt that such is the principle of beauty. Coleridge.

An evil spirit; a wicked and unprincipled person; the personification of evil. What concord hath Christ with Belia 2 Cor. vi. 15. A son (or man) of Belial, a worthless, wicked, or thoroughly depraved person. 1 Sam. ii. 12.