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. Of moralitee he was the flower. Chaucer. I am bold to think that morality is capable of demonstration. Locke.

Not positive; without affirmative statement or demonstration; indirect; consisting in the absence of something; privative; as, a negative argument; a negative morality; negative criticism. There in another way of denying Christ, ... which is negative, when we do not acknowledge and confess him. South.…

In German mythology, the children of the mist, a race of dwarfs or demonic beings, the original possessors of the famous hoard and ring won by Siegfrid; also, the Burgundian kings in the Nibelungenlied.

A species of demoniac enthusiasm or possession coming upon one who had accidentally looked upon a nymph; ecstasy. [R.] De Quincey. The nympholepsy of some fond despair. Byron.

Showing; exhibiting. Ostensive demonstration (Math.), a direct or positive demonstration, as opposed to the apagogical or indirect method.

Of or pertaining to the Pietists; hence, in contempt, affectedly or demonstratively religious. Addison.

A theorem or proposition so easy of demonstration as to be almost self-evident. [R.] Crabb.

possessed or controlled, as by an evil spirit, or violent passions; madness; frenzy; as, demoniacal possession. How long hath this possession held the man Shak. To give possession, to put in another's power or occupancy. -- To put in possession. (a) To invest with ownership or occupancy; to provide or furnish with; a…

Rendering probable; supporting, or giving ground for, belief, but not demonstrating; as, probable evidence; probable presumption. Blackstone. Probable cause (Law), a reasonable ground of presumption that a charge is, or my be, well founded. -- Probable error (of an observation, or of the mean of a number), that within…

arguments that induce, or tend to induce, certainty of the judgment; conclusive evidence; demonstration. I'll have some proof. Shak. It is no proof of a man's understanding to be able to confirm whatever he pleases. Emerson.

A statement in terms of a truth to be demonstrated, or of an operation to be performed.

Capable of being proved; demonstrable. -- Prov"a*ble*ness, n. -- Prov"a*bly, adv.

To turn aside; to elude; to disappoint; to frustrate; to baffle. I hoped for a demonstration, but Themistius hoped to put me off with an harangue. Boyle. We might put him off with this answer. Bentley.

Not showy; not such as to attract attention; undemonstrative; as, a quiet dress; quiet colors; a quiet movement.

A pointing out; manifestation; proof; demonstration. [Obs.] You may marvel why I . . . would not rather Make rash remonstrance of my hidden power Than let him be so lost. Shak.

To point out; to show clearly; to make plain or manifest; hence, to prove; to demonstrate. [Obs.] Jer. Taylor. I will remonstrate to you the third door. B. Jonson.

as, a rigorous officer of justice; a rigorous execution of law; a rigorous definition or demonstration. He shall be thrown down the Tarpeian Rock With rigorous hands. Shak. We do not connect the scattered phenomena into their rigorous unity. De Quincey.

In mediæval demonology, the nocturnal assembly in which demons and sorcerers were thought to celebrate their orgies.

An incarnation of Satan; a being possessed by a demon. [R.] O. A. Brownson.

l at once take in time and eternity. Atterbury. Arguments . . . sufficient to support and demonstrate a whole scheme of moral philosophy. J. Edwards. The Revolution came and changed his whole scheme of life. Macaulay.