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arded as a standard of perfection; a model of excellence, beauty, etc. The ideal is to be attained by selecting and assembling in one whole the beauties and perfections which are usually seen in different individuals, excluding everything defective or unseemly, so as to form a type or model of the species. Thus, the Ap…

ain about the year 1575. Their principal doctrine was, that, by means of prayer, they had attained to so perfect a state as to have no need of ordinances, sacraments, good works, etc.; -- called also Alumbrados, Perfectibilists, etc.

Not possible; incapable of being done, of existing, etc.; unattainable in the nature of things, or by means at command; insuperably difficult under the circumstances; absurd or impracticable; not feasible. With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible. Matt. xix. 26. Without faith it is impossible t…

to his brethren, to disable their issues, upon false and incompetent pretexts, the one of attainder, the other of illegitimation. Bacon.

A person who is not of full age, or who has not attained the age of legal capacity; a person under the age of twenty-one years; a minor.

king by inheritance, or of receiving by descent; capable of succeeding to, as an heir. By attainder . . . the blood of the person attainted is so corrupted as to be rendered no longer inheritable. Blackstone. The eldest daughter of the king is also alone inheritable to the crown on failure of issue male. Blackstone. In…

To clear of outlawry or attainder; to place under the protection of the law. Burrill.

y show,as I hope I shall . . . how men, barely by the use of their natural faculties, may attain to all the knowledge they have, without the help of any innate impressions; and may arrive at certainty without any such original notions or principles. Locke.

bowl used as a mark in the game of bowls. Shak. Like an uninstructed bowler who thinks to attain the jack by delivering his bowl straight forward upon it. Sir W. Scott.

That which resembles a ladder in form or use; hence, that by means of which one attains to eminence. Lowliness is young ambition's ladder. Shak. Fish ladder. See under Fish. -- Ladder beetle (Zoöl.), an American leaf beetle (Chrysomela scalaris). The elytra are silvery white, striped and spotted with green; the under…

ng. -- Line of operations, that portion of a theater of war which an army passes over in attaining its object. H. W. Halleck. -- Line of sight (Firearms), the line which passes through the front and rear sight, at any elevation, when they are sighted at an object. -- Line tub (Naut.), a tub in which the line carried…

e of supernatural beings, or departed spirits, or by a mastery of secret forces in nature attained by a study of occult science, including enchantment, conjuration, witchcraft, sorcery, necromancy, incantation, etc. An appearance made by some magic. Chaucer. Celestial magic, a supposed supernatural power which gave to…

A great act or event; a great attainment. [Obs.] Sir T. Browne.

To reach; to attain; to arrive at or in sight of. "And make the Libyan shores." Dryden. They that sail in the middle can make no land of either side. Sir T. Browne. To make a bed, to prepare a bed for being slept on, or to put it in order. -- To make a card (Card Playing), to take a trick with it. -- To make account.…

One who has attained great skill in the use or application of anything; as, a master of oratorical art. Great masters of ridicule. Maccaulay. No care is taken to improve young men in their own language, that they may thoroughly understand and be masters of it. Locke.

The act process of mastering; the state of having mastered. He could attain to a mastery in all languages. Tillotson. The learning and mastery of a tongue, being unpleasant in itself, should not be cumbered with other difficulties. Locke.

The greatest quantity or value attainable in a given case; or, the greatest value attained by a quantity which first increases and then begins to decrease; the highest point or degree; -- opposed to Ant: minimum. Good legislation is the art of conducting a nation to the maximum of happiness, and the minimum of misery.…

Mayan peoples are dark, short, and brachycephallic, and at the time of the discovery had attained a higher grade of culture than any other American people. They cultivated a variety of crops, were expert in the manufacture and dyeing of cotton fabrics, used cacao as a medium of exchange, and were workers of gold, silv…

That through which, or by the help of which, an end is attained; something tending to an object desired; intermediate agency or measure; necessary condition or coagent; instrument. Their virtuous conversation was a mean to work the conversion of the heathen to Christ. Hooker. You may be able, by this mean, to review yo…

Being at, or pertaining to, midday; belonging to, or passing through, the highest point attained by the sun in his diurnal course. "Meridian hour." Milton. Tables ... to find the altitude meridian. Chaucer.