Search the Dictionary

ating in, or derived from, the constitution of the intellect, as opposed to acquired from experience; as, innate ideas. See A priori, Intuitive. There is an innate light in every man, discovering to him the first lines of duty in the common notions of good and evil. South. Men would not be guilty if they did not carry…

or rites. Bacon. The love of things ancient doth argue stayedness, but levity and want of experience maketh apt unto innovations. Hooker.

pprehension of the end or object to be accomplished. An instinct is a propensity prior to experience, and independent of instructions. Paley. An instinct is a blind tendency to some mode of action, independent of any consideration, on the part of the agent, of the end to which the action leads. Whately. An instinct is…

mpulse or propensity; acting or produced without reasoning, deliberation, instruction, or experience; spontaneous. "Instinctive motion." Milton. "Instinctive dread." Cowper. With taste instinctive give Each grace appropriate. Mason. Have we had instinctive intimations of the death of some absent friends Bp. Hall.…

Conveying knowledge; serving to instruct or inform; as, experience furnishes very instructive lessons. Addison. In various talk the instructive hours they past. Pope. -- In*struct"ive*ly, adv. -- In*struct"ive*ness, n. The pregnant instructiveness of the Scripture. Boyle.

Knowledge imparted or acquired, whether by study, research, or experience; general information. I write as he that none intelligence Of meters hath, nCourt of Love.

One who has skill, knowledge, or experience, sufficient to decide on the merits of a question, or on the quality or value of anything; one who discerns properties or relations with skill and readiness; a connoisseur; an expert; a critic. A man who is no judge of law may be a good judge of poetry, or eloquence, or of th…

stranger to; to be more or less familiar with the person, character, etc., of; to possess experience of; as, to know an author; to know the rules of an organization. He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin. 2 Cor. v. 21. Not to know me argues yourselves unknown. Milton.

Knowledge; hence, experience. " In my knowing." Shak. This sore night Hath trifled former knowings. Shak.

By experience. [Obs.] Shak.

That familiarity which is gained by actual experience; practical skill; as, a knowledge of life. Shipmen that had knowledge of the sea. 1 Kings ix. 27.

That which is learned or taught by an express effort; instruction derived from precept, experience, observation, or deduction; a precept; a doctrine; as, to take or give a lesson in drawing." A smooth and pleasing lesson." Milton. Emprinteth well this lesson in your mind. Chaucer.

e; the life of Indians, or of miners. That which before us lies in daily life. Milton. By experience of life abroad in the world. Ascham. Lives of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime. Longfellow. 'T is from high life high characters are drawn. Pope

uitable to such sentiments. -- Lip wisdom, wise talk without practice, or unsupported by experience. -- Lip work. (a) Talk. (b) Kissing. [Humorous] B. Jonson. -- Lip make a lip, to drop the under lip in sullenness or contempt. Shak. -- To shoot out the lip (Script.), to show contempt by protruding the lip.…

That which is or may be learned or known; the knowledge gained from tradition, books, or experience; often, the whole body of knowledge possessed by a people or class of people, or pertaining to a particular subject; as, the lore of the Egyptians; priestly lore; legal lore; folklore. "The lore of war." Fairfax. His fai…

An unmarried woman; a girl or woman who has not experienced sexual intercourse; a virgin; a maid. She employed the residue of her life to repairing of highways, building of bridges, and endowing of maidens. Carew. A maiden of our century, yet most meek. Tennyson.

ember; -- often called martlemans. Martinmas summer, a period of calm, warm weather often experienced about the time of Martinmas; Indian summer. Percy Smith.

e in a hospital; as, the matron of a school or hospital. Jury of matrons (Law), a jury of experienced women called to determine the question of pregnancy when set up in bar of execution, and for other cognate purposes.

toward maturity; to become ripe; as, wine matures by age; the judgment matures by age and experience.

To perceive; to come to a knowledge of; to have personal acquaintance with; to experience; to suffer; as, the eye met a horrid sight; he met his fate. Of vice or virtue, whether blest or curst, Which meets contempt, or which compassion first. Pope.