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Happening independently of human will or means of foresight; resulting from unavoidable physical causes. Abbott.

Receiving same unforeseen or unexpected good, or some good which was not dependent on one's own skill or efforts; favored with good forune; lucky.

e's own impulses, desires, or inclinations; determining one's own course of action; not dependent; at liberty. That which has the power, or not the power, to operate, is that alone which is or is not free. Locke.

One who speculates or forms opinions independently of the authority of others; esp., in the sphere or religion, one who forms opinions independently of the authority of revelation or of the church; an unbeliever; -- a term assumed by deists and skeptics in the eighteenth century. Atheist is an old-fashioned word: I'm a…

ected therewith. -- Explicit function, a quantity directly expressed in terms of the independently varying quantity; thus, in the equations y = 6x2, y = 10 -x3, the quantity y is an explicit function of x. -- Implicit function, a quantity whose relation to the variable is expressed indirectly by an equation; thus, y…

Dependent on the tension of a cord.

l mile. See under Mile. -- Geographical variation, any variation of a species which is dependent on climate or other geographical conditions.

A well-known edible berry growing in pendent clusters or bunches on the grapevine. The berries are smooth-skinned, have a juicy pulp, and are cultivated in great quantities for table use and for making wine and raisins.

A composition in which the bass, consisting of a few bars of independent notes, is continually repeated to a varying melody.

An irregular mode of carrying on war, by the constant attacks of independent bands, adopted in the north of Spain during the Peninsular war.

through the tendency of the rotating wheel to preserve a constant plane of rotation, independently of the earth's motion.

A dependent; a hanger-on; -- so called in contempt. B. Jonson.

One who hangs on, or sticks to, a person, place, or service; a dependent; one who adheres to others' society longer than he is wanted. Goldsmith.

Suspended from above; pendent; as, hanging shelves.

ts, which has for its object the expression of an arbitrary, periodic function of two independent variables, in the proper form for a large class of physical problems, involving arbitrary data, over a spherical surface, and the deduction of solutions for every point of space. The functions employed in this method are c…

A dependent and subservient hanger-on of a political patron. [Political Cant, U. S.] The army of hungry heelers who do their bidding. The Century.

Primitive religion in which each of several divinities is regarded as independent, and is worshiped without reference to the rest. [R.]

r. "My herald is returned." Shak. Heralds' College, in England, an ancient corporation, dependent upon the crown, instituted or perhaps recognized by Richard III. in 1483, consisting of the three Kings-at-Arms and the Chester, Lancaster, Richmond, Somerset, Windsor, and York Heralds, together with the Earl Marshal. Thi…

old and retracted, the skin of the forehead tense and dry, the complexion livid, the lips pendent, relaxed, and cold; -- so called, as having been described by Hippocrates. Dunglison. -- Hippocratic oath, an oath said to have been dictated by Hippocrates to his disciples. Such an oath is still administered to candidat…

d plot on which the owner's home stands. [U. S.] -- Home rule, rule or government of an appendent or dependent country, as to all local and internal legislation, by means of a governing power vested in the people within the country itself, in contradistinction to a government established by the dominant country; as, ho…