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nalysis which determines the proximate principles of any substance, as contrasted with an ultimate analysis. -- Proximate cause. (a) A cause which immediately precedes and produces the effect, as distinguished from the remote, mediate, or predisposing cause. I. Watts. (b) That which in ordinary natural sequence produc…

m is from the Latin, which derived it, through a Greek alphabet, from the Phoenician, the ultimate origin being Egyptian. Etymologically, q or qu is most nearly related to a (ch, tch), p, q, and wh; as in cud, quid, L. equus, ecus, horse, Gr. equine, hippic; L. quod which, E. what; L. aquila, E. eaqle; E. kitchen, OE.…

Of or pertaining to the root or origin; reaching to the center, to the foundation to the ultimate sources to the principles, or the like: original; fundamental; thorough-going; unsparing; extreme; as, radical evils; radical reform; a radical party. The most determined exertions of that authority, against them, only sh…

The system that makes rational power the ultimate test of truth; -- opposed to sensualism, or sensationalism, and empiricism. Fleming.

redounded as a flood on those From whom it sprung. Milton. The honor done to our religion ultimately redounds to God, the author of it. Rogers. both . . . will devour great quantities of paper, there will no small use redound from them to that manufacture. Addison.

That to which one resorts or looks for help; resource; refuge. Last resort, ultimate means of relief; also, final tribunal; that from which there is no appeal.

h the mind directs its view; that which is purposed to be reached or accomplished; hence, ultimate design, aim, or purpose; intention; drift; object. "Shooting wide, do miss the marked scope." Spenser. Your scope is as mine own, So to enforce or quality the laws As to your soul seems good. Shak. The scope of all their…

Not capable of being decomposed into anything more simple or ultimate by any means at present known; elementary; thus, atoms are regarded as simple bodies. Cf. Ultimate, a.

her material particle or atom from any given portion of space; -- applied to the supposed ultimate particles of matter.

e germinal or seminal cell, from the breaking up of which the spermoblasts are formed and ultimately the spermatozoids; a spermatospore. Balfour.

A small or secondary spike; especially, one of the ultimate parts of the in florescence of grasses. See Illust. of Quaking grass.

erature maintained in the bodies of warm-blooded (homoiothermal) animals during life. The ultimate source of the heat is to be found in the potential energy of the food and the oxygen which is absorbed from the air during respiration. See Homoiothermal. -- Temperature sense (Physiol.), the faculty of perceiving cold a…

To the end; to a conclusion; to the ultimate purpose; as, to carry a project through.

, or more probably Mainland, the largest of the Shetland islands; hence, the Latin phrase ultima Thule, farthest Thule.

ange the form of; to change in shape or appearance; to metamorphose; as, a caterpillar is ultimately transformed into a butterfly. Love may transform me to an oyster. Shak.

Ultimate; final. [Obs.] Bacon.

themselves to modifications or changes in their environment, thus possibly giving rise to ultimate variation of structure or function.

y s either remained unchanged, or it became z and later r. Example: Skt. sapta (accent on ultima), Gr. 'e`pta, Gothic sibun (seven). Examples in English are dead by the side of death, to rise and to rear.

n letter Z, which came from the Greek alphabet, this having it from a Semitic source. The ultimate origin is probably Egyptian. Etymologically, it is most closely related to s, y, and j; as in glass, glaze; E. yoke, Gr. yugum; E. zealous, jealous. See Guide to Pronunciation, §§ 273, 274.