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, sound, consistent, without gaps or holes; -- commonly used in a negative sense; as, his statements will not hold water. [Collog.] (b) (Naut.) To hold the oars steady in the water, thus checking the headway of a boat.

acterized by integrity or fairness and straightas, an honest judge or merchant; an honest statement; an honest bargain; an honest business; an honest book; an honest confession. An honest man's the noblest work of God. Pope. An honest physician leaves his patient when he can contribute no farther to his health. Sir W.…

s, the members of the House of Lords in Great Britain, are not under oath, but give their statements or verdicts on their honor. -- Point of honor, a scruple or nice distinction in matters affecting one's honor; as, he raised a point of honor. -- To do the honors, to bestow honor, as on a guest; to act as host or hos…

things are represented as much greater or less, better or worse, than they really are; a statement exaggerated fancifully, through excitement, or for effect. Our common forms of compliment are almost all of them extravagant hyperboles. Blair. Somebody has said of the boldest figure in rhetoric, the hyperbole, that it…

llative word, as then, therefore, etc. Illative conversion (Logic), a converse or reverse statement of a proposition which in that form must be true because the original proposition is true. -- Illative sense (Metaph.), the faculty of the mind by which it apprehends the conditions and determines upon the correctness o…

Inability; helplessness. [R.] Latimer. Logical impossibility, a condition or statement involving contradiction or absurdity; as, that a thing can be and not be at the same time. See Principle of Contradiction, under Contradiction.

Absurdity in argument ore narration; incoherence or irreconcilability in the parts of a statement, argument, or narration; that which is inconsistent. If a man would register all his opinions upon love, politics, religion, and learning, what a bundle of inconsistencies and contradictions would appear at last! Swift.…

Not in accordance with the truth; inaccurate; not exact; as, an incorrect statement or calculation.

e Indeterminate inflorescence, under Indeterminate. -- Indefinite proposition (Logic), a statement whose subject is a common term, with nothing to indicate distribution or nondistribution; as, Man is mortal. -- Indefinite term (Logic), a negative term; as, the not-good.

The formal statement of an offense, as framed by the prosecuting authority of the State, and found by the grand jury.

, or questioning, for the purpose of eliciting information for publication; the published statement so elicited.

cilable; implacable; incompatible; inconsistent; disagreeing; as, irreconcilable enemies, statements. -- Ir*rec"on*ci`la*ble*ness, n. -- Ir*rec"on*ci`la*bly, adv.

, to reason, or to a proper standard; exact; normal; reasonable; regular; due; as, a just statement; a just inference. Just of thy word, in every thought sincere. Pope. The prince is here at hand: pleaseth your lordship To meet his grace just distance 'tween our armies. Shak. He was a comely personage, a little above j…

Full in statement; diffuse; full; profuse. I might be very large upon the importance and advantages of education. Felton.

which form the striking differences between High German and The Low German Languages. The statement of these changes is commonly regarded as forming part of Grimm's law, because included in it as originally framed.

to crimes. -- Ecclesiastical law. See under Ecclesiastical. -- Grimm's law (Philol.), a statement (propounded by the German philologist Jacob Grimm) of certain regular changes which the primitive Indo-European mute consonants, so-called (most plainly seen in Sanskrit and, with some changes, in Greek and Latin), have…

Verbal expression; literal statement or meaning; exact signification or requirement. We must observe the letter of the law, without doing violence to the reason of the law and the intention of the lawgiver. Jer. Taylor. I broke the letter of it to keep the sense. Tennyson.

A written declaration or statement by the plaintiff of his cause of action, and of the relief he seeks.

A diminution or softening of statement for the sake of avoiding censure or increasing the effect by contrast with the moderation shown in the form of expression; as, " a citizen of no mean city," that is, of an illustrious city.

A record and tabulated statement of the work done by an engine, as of a steamship, of the coal consumed, and of other items relating to the performance of machinery during a given time.