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The acting under authority of, or on account of, another.

s referred, either by a legislative body, or by a court, or by any collective body of men acting together. Commitee of the whole [house], a committee, embracing all the members present, into which a legislative or deliberative body sometimes resolves itself, for the purpose of considering a particular measure under the…

Acting in competition; competing; rival.

Calm contentment; satisfaction; gratification. The inward complacence we find in acting reasonably and virtuously. Atterbury. Others proclaim the infirmities of a great man with satisfaction and complacency, if they discover none of the like in themselves. Addison.

A constituent part; an ingredient. Component of force (Mech.), a force which, acting conjointly with one or more forces, produces the effect of a single force or resultant; one of a number of forces into which a single force may be resolved.

Manner of acting; behavior; conduct; deportment. [Obs.] I knew them well, and marked their rude comport. Dryden.

Manner of acting; behavior; bearing. A graceful comportment of their bodies. Cowley. Her serious and devout comportment. Addison.

) which shall be equal in effect to two or more given forces (called the components) when acting in given directions. Herbert. -- Composition metal, an alloy resembling brass, which is sometimes used instead of copper for sheathing vessels; -- also called Muntz metal and yellow metal. -- Composition of proportion (Ma…

Acting in conjunction; agreeing in the same act or opinion; contibuting to the same event of effect; coöperating. I join with these laws the personal presence of the kings' son, as a concurrent cause of this reformation. Sir J. Davies. The concurrent testimony of antiquity. Bp. Warburton.

The cause which moves a contracting party to enter into an agreement; the material cause of a contract; the price of a stripulation; compensation; equivalent. Bouvier.

Living or acting in conformity with one's belief or professions. It was utterly to be at once a consistent Quaker and a conspirator. Macaulay.

Open to the view; obvious to the eye; easy to be seen; plainly visible; manifest; attracting the eye. It was a rock Of alabaster, piled up to the clouds, Conspicious far. Milton. Conspicious by her veil and hood, Signing the cross, the abbess stood. Sir W. Scott.

The act or process of constituting; the action of enacting, establishing, or appointing; enactment; establishment; formation.

Having the quality of contracting, binding, or compressing. Thomson.

To have reference to, in judging or acting; to have regard to; to consider; as, to consult one's wishes. We are . . . to consult the necessities of life, rather than matters of ornament and delight. L'Estrange.

pass or in duration; as, iron contracts in cooling; a rope contracts when wet. Years contracting to a moment. Wordsworth.

tending to contract; having the power or property of contracting, or of shrinking into shorter or smaller dimensions; as, the contractile tissues. The heart's contractile force. H. Brooke. Each cilium seems to be composed of contractile substance. Hixley. Contractile vacuole (Zoöl.), a pulsating cavity in the interior…

The power possessed by the fibers of living muscle of contracting or shortening.

The act or process of contracting, shortening, or shrinking; the state of being contracted; as, contraction of the heart, of the pupil of the eye, or of a tendion; the contraction produced by cold.

Tending to contract; having the property or power or power of contracting.