Search the Dictionary

rmine the course of a man's character and life from the configuration of the stars at the moment of his birth. Whewell.

resulting from various conditions. He [Chesterfield] had recently governed Ireland, at a momentous conjuncture, with eminent firmness, wisdom, and humanity. Macaulay.

ortance with respect to what comes after; power to influence or produce an effect; value; moment; rank; distinction. It is a matter of small consequence. Shak. A sense of your own worth and consequence. Cowper. In consequence, hence; for this cause. -- In consequence of, by reason of; as the effect of.…

Shak. 'T were to consider too curiously, to consider so. Shak. She wished she had taken a moment to consider, before rushing down stairs. W. Black

uration; as, iron contracts in cooling; a rope contracts when wet. Years contracting to a moment. Wordsworth.

A buskin anciently used by tragic actors on the stage; hence, tragedy in general. The moment had arrived when it was thought that the mask and the cothurn might be assumed with effect. Motley.

The critical moment in a play, when, contrary to expectation, the action is embroiled in new difficulties. Dryden.

ther any affair or course of action must go on, or be modified or terminate; the decisive moment; the turning point. This hour's the very crisis of your fate. Dryden. The very times of crisis for the fate of the country. Brougham.

of a fever; a critical situation. Our circumstances are indeed critical. Burke. The small moment, the exact point, the critical minute, on which every good work so much depends. South. Critical angle (Optics), that angle of incidence of a luminous ray at which it is wholly reflected, and no portion of it transmitted. T…

A thermometer for the measurement of low temperatures, esp. such an instrument containing alcohol or some other liquid of a lower freezing point than mercury.

A machine for measuring at any moment velocity of rotation, as of a wheel of a steam engine. Knight.

To lessen the velocity or momentum of; to retard; as, to deaden a ship's headway.

of a needy man of letters. Macaulay. Deplorable is the degradation of our nature. South. Moments there frequently must be, when a sidegradation of his state. Blair.

A division, space, or interval, marked on a mathematical or other instrument, as on a thermometer.

Affected by slight causes; showing slight changes; as, a delicate thermometer.

less; abandonment of hope; extreme recklessness; reckless fury. In the desperation of the moment, the officers even tried to cut their way through with their swords. W. Irving.

ted at last. Burke. Like following life through creatures you dissect, You lose it in the moment you detect. Pope.

uced equal to the difference of the motions of the component screws. -- Differential thermometer, a thermometer usually with a U-shaped tube terminating in two air bulbs, and containing a colored liquid, used for indicating the difference between the temperatures to which the two bulbs are exposed, by the change of po…

To plunge or immerse; especially, to put for a moment into a liquid; to insert into a fluid and withdraw again. The priest shall dip his finger in the blood. Lev. iv. 6. [Wat'ry fowl] now dip their pinions in the briny deep. Pope. While the prime swallow dips his wing. Tennyson.

A direct induced current, or momentary current of the same direction as the inducing current, produced by stopping or removing the latter; also, a similar current produced by removal of a magnet.