Search the Dictionary

Attended with murmurs; exciting murmurs or complaint; murmuring. [Archaic or Poetic] The lime, a summer home of murmurous wings. Tennyson.

d secret; something wholly unknown, or something kept cautiously concealed, and therefore exciting curiosity or wonder; something which has not been or can not be explained; hence, specifically, that which is beyond human comprehension. We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery. 1 Cor. ii. 7. If God should please to reve…

Causing, or fitted to cause, nausea; sickening; loathsome; disgusting; exciting abhorrence; as, a nauseous drug or medicine. -- Nau"seous*ly, adv. -- Nau"seous*ness, n. The nauseousness of such company disgusts a reasonable man. Dryden.

Of or pertaining to passion or the passions; exciting, influenced by, or ministering to, the passions. -- n.

al form of rotary converter with stationary commutator and rotating brushes, in which the exciting field is induced by the alternating current in a short-circuited magnetic core instead of being produced by an external magnet.

The power of exciting the organs of the brain by magnetic or mesmeric influence.

Deserving pity; wworthy of, or exciting, compassion; miserable; lamentable; piteous; as, pitiable persons; a pitiable condition; pitiable wretchedness.

Exciting no pity; as, a pitiless condition. -- Pit"i*less*ly, adv. -- Pit"i*less*ness, n.

a voltaic battery so arranged that the plates can be plunged into, or withdrawn from, the exciting liquid at pleasure.

pears at that pole of a voltaic battery attached to the plate that is not attacked by the exciting liquid; -- formerly called vitreous electricity; -- opposed to Ant: negative electricity. -- Positive eyepiece. See under Eyepiece. -- Positive law. See Municipal law, under Law. -- Positive motion (Mach.), motion whic…

Beginning; predisposing; exciting; initial. [Obs.]

Serving or tending to provoke, excite, or stimulate; exciting.

Having the power or quality of exciting resentment; tending to awaken passion or vexation; as, provoking words or treatment. -- Pro*vok"ing*ly, adv.

Exciting the pulse; causing pulsation.

Not giving offense; not exciting disorder or trouble; not turbulent; gentle; mild; meek; contented. The ornament of a meek and quiet spirit. 1 Pet. iii. 4. I will sit as quiet as a lamb. Shak.

Hence: Exciting to the mental taste by a strong or distinctive character of thought or language; peculiar and piquant; fresh and lively. Our raciest, most idiomatic popular word. M. Arnold. Burn's English, though not so racy as his Scotch, is generally correct. H. Coleridge. The rich and racy humor of a natural convers…

Exciting pity; pitiable. [Obs.] Chapman. -- Re*morse"ful*ly, adv. -- Re*morse"ful*ness, n.

Causing abhorrence mixed with disgust; exciting extreme repugnance; loathsome; as, revolting cruelty. -- Re*volt"ing*ly, adv.

Laughing; laughable; exciting gayety; gay; merry; delightful to the view, as a landscape. In such cases the sublimity must be drawn from the other sources, with a strict caution, howewer, against anything light and riant. Burke.

Abounding in humor; exciting amusement; entertaining; as, the scene was a rich one; a rich incident or character. [Colloq.] Thackeray.