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Fig.: To unnerve; to destroy or impair the energy of; to render ineffective; as, the occurrence paralyzed the community; despondency paralyzed his efforts.

Having nervous energy; forceful; cogent. This pithy speech prevailed, and all agreed. Dryden. In all these Goodman Fact was very short, but pithy. Addison. Pithy gall (Zoöl.), a large, rough, furrowed, oblong gall, formed on blackberry canes by a small gallfly (Diastrophus nebulosus).

of power, being the power obtained from an expenditure of one hundred kilogram-meters of energy per second. One poncelet equals g watts, when g is the value of the acceleration of gravity in centimeters.

Having a real position, existence, or energy; existing in fact; real; actual; -- opposed to negative. "Positive good." Bacon.

The quality or state of being potent; physical or moral power; inherent strength; energy; ability to effect a purpose; capability; efficacy; influence. "Drugs of potency." Hawthorne. A place of potency and away o' the state. Shak.

Being potent; endowed with energy adequate to a result; efficacious; influential. [Obs.] "And hath in his effect a voice potential." Shak.

With great force or energy; powerfully; efficaciously. "You are potently opposed." Shak.

To busy one's self with trifles; to labor with little purpose, energy, of effect; to trifle; to pother. Pottering about the Mile End cottages. Mrs. Humphry Ward.

Ability, regarded as put forth or exerted; strength, force, or energy in action; as, the power of steam in moving an engine; the power of truth, or of argument, in producing conviction; the power of enthusiasm. "The power of fancy." Shak.

Destitute of power, force, or energy; weak; impotent; not able to produce any effect. -- Pow"er*less*ly, adv. -- Pow"er*less*ness, n.

A source, or origin; that from which anything proceeds; fundamental substance or energy; primordial substance; ultimate element, or cause.

The faculty of overcoming obstacles; aggressive energy; as, he has push, or he has no push. [Colloq.]

To make lively, active, or sprightly; to impart additional energy to; to stimulate; to make quick or rapid; to hasten; to accelerate; as, to quicken one's steps or thoughts; to quicken one's departure or speed.

One who wastes his energy about trifles. Emerson.

mbelliferous plants; -- said also of the cluster which has such marginal flowers. Radiant energy (Physics), energy given out or transmitted by radiation, as in the case of light and radiant heat. -- Radiant heat, proceeding in right lines, or directly from the heated body, after the manner of light, in distinction fro…

e them to their radicals, where you find every word strongly stamped with nature; full of energy, meaning, character, painting, and poetry. Cleland.

An instrument designed for measuring the mechanical effect of radiant energy.

Direct observation of objects opaque to light by means of some other form of radiant energy, as the Röntgen rays. -- Ra`di*o*scop"ic (#), *scop"ic*al (#), a.

Telegraphy using the radiant energy of electrical (Hertzian) waves; wireless telegraphy; -- the term adopted for use by the Radiotelegraphic Convention of 1912.

chemical agents upon each other, or the action upon such chemical agents of some form of energy, as heat, light, or electricity, resulting in a chemical change in one or more of these agents, with the production of new compounds or the manifestation of distinctive characters. See Blowpipe reaction, Flame reaction, und…