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The act or art of producing upon hard material incised or raised patterns, characters, lines, and the like; especially, the art of producing such lines, etc., in the surface of metal plates or blocks of wood. Engraving is used for the decoration of the surface itself; also, for producing an original, from which a patte…

d long past, when clerks engrossed their stiff and formal chirography on more substantial materials. Hawthorne. Laws that may be engrossed on a finger nail. De Quincey.

or command; to give an injunction to; to direct with authority; to order; to charge. High matter thou enjoin'st me. Milton. I am enjoined by oath to observe three things. Shak.

A figure by which the same word or clause is repeated after intervening matter. Gibbs.

The closing part of a discourse, in which the principal matters are recapitulated; a conclusion.

To be equal to; equal; to match. [Obs.] It could not equalize the hundredth part Of what her eyes have kindled in my heart. Waller. Equalizing bar (Railroad Mach.), a lever connecting two axle boxes, or two springs in a car truck or locomotive, to equalize the pressure on the axles.

uniformly in a circle, and its place as moving in an ellipse. -- Equations of condition (Math.), equations formed for deducing the true values of certain quantities from others on which they depend, when different sets of the latter, as given by observation, would yield different values of the quantities sought, and t…

ng equal angles; as, an equiangular figure; a square is equiangular. Equiangular spiral. (Math.) See under Spiral, n. -- Mutually equiangular, applied to two figures, when every angle of the one has its equal among the angles of the other.

emeth to you, if there were to a man an hundred sheep and one of them hath erred. Wyclif (Matt. xviii. 12).

r, ice, or other causes. -- Erratic phenomena, the phenomena which relate to transported materials on the earth's surface.

The difference between the approximate result and the true result; -- used particularly in the rule of double position.

ly; heretofore. Chaucer. Tityrus, with whose style he had erst disclaimed all ambition to match his pastoral pipe. A. W. Ward. At erst, at first; at the beginning. -- Now at erst, at this present time. Chaucer.

A violent belching out or emitting, as of gaseous or other matter from the crater of a volcano, geyser, etc.

The red coloring matter of leaves, fruits, flowers, etc., in distinction from chlorophyll.

e predominant qualities or virtues of a plant or drug, extracted and refined from grosser matter; or, more strictly, the solution in spirits of wine of a volatile or essential oil; as, the essence of mint, and the like. The . . . word essence . . . scarcely underwent a more complete transformation when from being the a…

borne down. Burke. Confidence which must precede union could be established only by consummate prudence and self-control. Bancroft.

neral body politic; the common-wealth; the general interest; state affairs. [Obs.] I call matters of estate not only the parts of sovereignty, but whatsoever . . . concerneth manifestly any great portion of people. Bacon.

An impression on paper, parchment, or other material, taken in ink from an etched plate. Etching figures (Min.), markings produced on the face of a crystal 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-poin…

One who holds the existence of matter to be from eternity. T. Burnet.

Supposed matter above the air; the air itself.