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Held by a doubtful tenure; depending on unknown causes or events; exposed to constant risk; not to be depended on for certainty or stability; uncertain; as, a precarious state of health; precarious fortunes. "Intervals of partial and precarious liberty." Macaulay.

chment, as by contract, promise, or affection. My preëngagements to other themes were not unknown to those for whom I was to write. Boyle.

A game at cards, now unknown. Shak.

e; as, in geometry, to bisect a line, to draw a perpendicular; or, in algebra, to find an unknown quantity.

One who promulges or publishes what was before unknown. Atterbury.

y, esp. in the choice of language. He [Fox] . . . purified vocabulary with a scrupulosity unknown to any purist. Macaulay.

o terms of the second degree; as, a quadratic equation, in which the highest power of the unknown quantity is a square.

f mass and velocity. -- Known quantities (Math.), quantities whose values are given. -- Unknown quantities (Math.), quantities whose values are sought.

Somebody; one unknown. Spenser.

stay. "I had rather speak five words with my understanding than ten thousands words in an unknown tongue." 1 Cor. xiv. 19. See Had rather, under Had.

y its discoverer because of its enigmatical character, x being an algebraic symbol for an unknown quantity.

ciprocal equation (Math.), one which remains unchanged in form when the reciprocal of the unknown quantity is substituted for that quantity. -- Reciprocal figures (Geom.), two figures of the same kind (as triangles, parallelograms, prisms, etc.), so related that two sides of the one form the extremes of a proportion o…

e product is called also iron by hydrogen. -- To reduce an equation (Alg.), to bring the unknown quantity by itself on one side, and all the known quantities on the other side, without destroying the equation. -- To reduce an expression (Alg.), to obtain an equivalent expression of simpler form. -- To reduce a squar…

extent; country; province; district; tract. If thence he 'scappe, into whatever world, Or unknown region. Milton.

ge of Elizabethtown was not much more reliable, being peopled in those agitated times by "unknown, unrecommended strangers, guilty-looking Tories, and very knavish Whigs." W. Irving.

official determination; a legislative declaration; a resolution. Nor is your firm resolve unknown. Shak. Cæsar's approach has summoned us together, And Rome attends her fate from our resolves. Addison.

or kept secret); to unveil; to disclose; to show. Light was the wound, the prince's care unknown, She might not, would not, yet reveal her own. Waller.

The act of revealing, disclosing, or discovering to others what was before unknown to them.

bers of the same natural family. The gaps in the table indicate the probable existence of unknown elements. TABLE OF THE PERIODIC LAW OF THE CHEMICAL ELEMENTS (The vertical columns contain the periodic groups) Series1{ 2{ 3{ 4{ 5{ 6{ 7{ 8{ 9{ 10{ 11{ 12{ --------------------------------------------------------- -----|I…

ne. See Phylloxera. -- Root of an equation (Alg.), that value which, substituted for the unknown quantity in an equation, satisfies the equation. -- Root of a nail (Anat.), the part of a nail which is covered by the skin. -- Root of a tooth (Anat.), the part of a tooth contained in the socket and consisting of one o…