Search the Dictionary

by authority as a rule for the measure of quantity, extent, value, or quality; esp., the original specimen weight or measure sanctioned by government, as the standard pound, gallon, or yard.

To bring onto being or into view; to originate; to invent. Sensual men agree in the pursuit of every pleasure they can start. Sir W. Temple.

ed especially to diffused rather than localized contractions, and in always indicating an origin organic and not spasmodic.

A suffix denoting the agent (originally a woman), especially a person who does something with skill or as an occupation; as in spinster (originally, a woman who spins), songster, baxter (= bakester), youngster.

th cream added; -- so called from the village or parish of Stilton, England, where it was originally made. It is very rich in fat.

The original progenitor; also, the race or line of a family; the progenitor of a family and his direct descendants; lineage; family. And stand betwixt them made, when, severally, All told their stock. Chapman. Thy mother was no goddess, nor thy stock From Dardanus. Denham.

An ornamental covering for the breast, worn originally both by men and women. Those worn by women were often richly decorated. A stately lady in a diamond stomacher. Johnson.

Originally, a covered porch with seats, at a house door; the Dutch stoep as introduced by the Dutch into New York. Afterward, an out-of-door flight of stairs of from seven to fourteen steps, with platform and parapets, leading to an entrance door some distance above the street; the French perron. Hence, any porch, plat…

here. Granville. My child is yet a stranger in the world. Shak. I was no stranger to the original. Dryden.

Originally, a paved way or road; a public highway; now commonly, a thoroughfare in a city or village, bordered by dwellings or business houses. He removed [the body of] Amasa from the street unto the field. Coverdale. At home or through the high street passing. Milton.

, the original compar. & superl. of Strong. [Obs.] Two of us shall strenger be than one. Chaucer.

The act of one who strips. The mutual bows and courtesies . . . are remants of the original prostrations and strippings of the captive. H. Spencer. Never were cows that required such stripping. Mrs. Gaskell.

ain the old declensional endings. In the Teutonic languages the vowel stems have held the original endings most firmly, and are called strong; the stems in -n are called weak other constant stems conform, or are irregular. F. A. March. Strong conjugation (Gram.), the conjugation of a strong verb; -- called also old, or…

A representation or rendering of any object or scene intended, not for exhibition as an original work of art, but for the information, instruction, or assistance of the maker; as, a study of heads or of hands for a figure picture.

diamond. 3. The needle-like device used to cut the grooves which record the sound on the original disc during recording of a phonograph record. 4. (Computers)

The act or power of originating or recalling ideas or relations, distinguished as original and relative; -- a term much used by Scottish metaphysicians from Hutcherson to Thomas Brown.

ts of the flower which, although normally below the ovary, adhere to it, and so appear to originate from its upper part; also of an ovary when the other floral organs are plainly below it in position, and free from it.

, can be expelled; reserve air. -- Supplemental bill (Equity), a bill filed in aid of an original bill to supply some deffect in the latter, or to set forth new facts which can not be done by amendment. Burrill. Daniel. -- Supplementary chords (Math.), in an ellipse or hyperbola, any two chords drawn through the extr…

An appellation added to the original name; an agnomen. "My surname, Coriolanus." Shak.

Any habit, usage, or belief, remaining from ancient times, the origin of which is often unknown, or imperfectly known. The close bearing of the doctrine of survival on the study of manners and customs. Tylor. Survival of the fittest. (Biol.) See Natural selection, under Natural.