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adding auxiliary words, so as to indicate the time of the action or event signified; the modification which verbs undergo for the indication of time.

A polymeric modification of terpene, obtained as a white crystalline camphorlike substance; -- called also camphene. By extension, any one of a group of related substances.

A modification of the kaleidophon, for showing composition of acoustic vibrations. It consists of two thin slips of steel welded together, their length being adjystable by a screw socket.

The hypothesis, or doctrine, that living beings have originated by the modification of some other previously existing forms of living matter; -- opposed to abiogenesis. Huxley.

A hair on the surface of leaf or stem, or any modification of a hair, as a minute scale, or star, or gland. The sporangia of ferns are believed to be of the nature of trichomes. -- Tri*chom"a*tous, a.

Modification of the direction of growth.

The euphonic modification of a root vowel sound by the influence of a, u, or especially i, in the syllable which formerly followed.

power possessed by living organisms, both animal and vegetable, of adapting themselves to modifications or changes in their environment, thus possibly giving rise to ultimate variation of structure or function.

e act of varying; a partial change in the form, position, state, or qualities of a thing; modification; alternation; mutation; diversity; deviation; as, a variation of color in different lights; a variation in size; variation of language. The essences of things are conceived not capable of any such variation. Locke.…

e, two, or more times; as, una volta, once. Seconda volta, second time, points to certain modifications in the close of a repeated strain.