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A brief compilation or composition, containing the principal heads, or general principles, of a larger work or system; an abridgment; an epitome; a compend; a condensed summary. A short system or compendium of a sience. I. Watts.

A concert for two or more principal instruments, with orchestral accompaniment. Also adjectively; as, concertante parts.

Having elevations or depressions in form like one half of a bivalve shell; -- applied principally to a surface produced by fracture.

An alphabetical verbal index showing the places in the text of a book where each principal word may be found, with its immediate context in each place. His knowledge of the Bible was such, that he might have been called a living concordance. Macaulay.

agreement, which has for its object to suspend, to defeat, or in some way to modify, the principal obligation; or, in case of a will, to suspend, revoke, or modify a devise or bequest. It is also the case of a future uncertain event, which may or may not happen, and on the occurrence or non-occurrence of which, the ac…

ocus of the other, especially two concave mirrors so placed that rays proceeding from the principal focus of one and reflected in a parallel beam are received upon the other and brought to the principal focus. -- Conjugate point (Geom.), an acnode. See Acnode, and Double point. -- Self-conjugate triangle (Conic Secti…

The principal sect of Christians in Egypt and the valley of the Nile.

A mineral consisting principally of sulphate of iron; white copperas; -- so called because found in the province of Coquimbo, Chili.

Cant] Corner stone, the stone which lies at the corner of two walls, and unites them; the principal stone; especially, the stone which forms the corner of the foundation of an edifice; hence, that which is fundamental importance or indispensable. "A prince who regarded uniformity of faith as the corner stone of his gov…

An officer of the peace whose principal duty is to inquire, with the help of a jury, into the cause of any violent, sudden or mysterious death, or death in prison, usually on sight of the body and at the place where the death occurred. [In England formerly also written and pronounced crowner.]

The principal gaseous substance forming the solar corona, characterized by a green line in the coronal spectrum.

as a complete army in itself. -- Corps de logis (ke l Etym: [F., body of the house], the principal mass of a building, considered apart from its wings. -- Corps diplomatique (k Etym: [F., diplomatic body], the body of ministers or envoys accredited to a government.

The erosion of the bed of a stream by running water, principally by attrition of the detritus carried along by the stream, but also by the solvent action of the water.

irregular cavalry to its armies, those of Little Russia and those of the Don forming the principal divisions.

Same as Contra. Formerly used to designate any under part which served for contrast to a principal part, but now used as equivalent to counter tenor.

site side of (an instrument or writing); hence, to sign in addition to the signature of a principal or superior, in order to attest the authenticity of a writing.

A mineral consisting principally of silicate of iron, and crystallizing in hexagonal prisms with perfect basal cleavage; -- so named from the Swedish mineralogist Cronstedt.

a tool, as in the augur. Knight. -- Cross lode (Mining), a vein intersecting the true or principal lode. -- Cross purpose. See Cross-purpose, in the Vocabulary. -- Cross reference, a reference made from one part of a book or register to another part, where the same or an allied subject is treated of. -- Cross sea (…

, it will crumble and pass into the form of gravel. Arbuthnot. The league deprived of its principal supports must soon crumble to pieces. Prescott.

One of the four principal forms of clouds. SeeCloud.