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To Descend, either suddenly or gradually; particularly, to descend by the force of gravity; to drop; to sink; as, the apple falls; the tide falls; the mercury falls in the barometer. I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Luke x. 18.

ion, in which the oil globules, naturally present in certain organs, are so multiplied as gradually to destroy and replace the efficient parts of these organs. -- Fatty heart, Fatty liver, etc. (Med.), a heart, liver, etc., which have been the subjects of fatty degeneration or infiltration. -- Fatty infiltration (Med…

lmonary consumption associated with the formation of fibrous tissue in the lungs, and the gradual atrophy of the lungs, from the pressure due to the contraction of this tissue.

change by fine gradations; as (Naut.), to fine down a ship's lines, to diminish her lines gradually. I often sate at home On evenings, watching how they fined themselves With gradual conscience to a perfect night. Browning.

the lowest (unicellular) organisms by means of a process of self-division, consisting of gradual division or cleavage of the into two parts, each of which then becomes a separate and independent organisms; as when a cell in an animal or plant, or its germ, undergoes a spontaneous division, and the parts again subdivid…

Any gentle, gradual movement or procedure of thought, diction, music, or the like, resembling the quiet, steady movement of a river; a stream. The feast of reason and the flow of soul. Pope.

as, a fractional part of the population. Fractional crystallization (Chem.), a process of gradual and approximate purification and separation, by means of repeated solution and crystallization therefrom. -- Fractional currency, small coin, or paper notes, in circulation, of less value than the monetary unit. -- Fract…

rn, a metallic wind instrument, consisting of a long tube twisted into circular folds and gradually expanding from the mouthpiece to the end at which the sound issues; -- called in France cor de chasse. -- French leave, an informal, hasty, or secret departure; esp., the leaving a place without paying one's debts. --…

Having the form of a funnel, or tunnel; that is, expanding gradually from the bottom upward, as the corolla of some flowers; infundibuliform.

o sol by the Italians and French. It was also originally used as the treble clef, and has gradually changed into the character represented in the margin. See Clef. G# (G sharp) is a tone intermediate between G and A.

the downward bend or subsidence of the earth's crust, which allows of the gradual accumulation of sediment, and hence forms the first step in the making of a mountain range; -- opposed to geanticlinal.

duced by the changing of the mouth organs from one definite position to another, and with gradual change in the most frequent cases; as in passing from the begining to the end of a regular diphthong, or from vowel to consonant or consonant to vowel in a syllable, or from one component to the other of a double or diphth…

A gradual passing from one tint to another or from a darker to a lighter shade, as in painting or drawing.

Proceeding step by step, or by gradations; gradual. Could we have seen [Macbeth's] crimes darkening on their progress . . . could this gradatory apostasy have been shown us. A. Seward.

To prepare gradually; to arrange, temper, or modify by degrees or to a certain degree; to determine the degrees of; as, to graduate the heat of an oven. Dyers advance and graduate their colors with salts. Browne.

A book of offices in the Roman Catholic Church; a gradual. [Obs.] T. Warton. Such as antiphonals, missals, grails, processionals, etc. Strype.

To increase in size by a natural and organic process; to increase in bulk by the gradual assimilation of new matter into the living organism; -- said of animals and vegetables and their organs.

The process of growing; the gradual increase of an animal or a vegetable body; the development from a seed, germ, or root, to full size or maturity; increase in size, number, frequency, strength, etc.; augmentation; advancement; production; prevalence or influence; as, the growth of trade; the growth of power; the grow…

Blood formative; -- applied to a substance in early fetal life, which breaks up gradually into blood vessels.

is process gives an armor plate a thick surface of extreme hardness supported by material gradually decreasing in hardness to the unaltered soft steel at the back.