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A kind of rhetoric employed in proving a thing and convincing others of its truth, in order to persuade them to adopt it.

According to the Gnostics, an agent or one employed by the Supreme Being to create the material universe and man.

ve of synonymous character; to discriminate in use; -- applied to words which have been employed as synonyms. Coleridge. Trench.

Fitted for, or skilled in, detecting; employed in detecting crime or criminals; as, a detective officer.

eries of compound in the series, and not to its composition, but which is now generally employed in the same sense as bi- or di-, although little used.

A sort of electroscope, invented by Rousseau, in which the dry pile is employed to measure the amount of electricity transmitted by different bodies, or to determine their conducting power. Nichol.

ence of ideas or of the nature and laws of being -- higher metaphysics. By Kant, it was employed to signify the logic of appearances or illusions, whether these arise from accident or error, or from those necessary limitations which, according to this philosopher, originate in the constitution of the human intellect.…

Pertaining to the discursive faculty, its acts or products. I would employ . . . dianoetic to denote the operation of the discursive, elaborative, or comparative faculty. Sir W. Hamilton.

A cotton fabric employed for hangings and furniture coverings, and formerly used for women's under-garments. It is of many patterns, both plain and twilled, and occasionally is printed in colors.

A unit employed by oculists in numbering glasses according to the metric system; a refractive power equal to that of a glass whose principal focal distance is one meter.

en nations (particularly in securing treaties), including the methods and forms usually employed.

A person employed in, or skilled in, diplomacy; a diplomat. In ability, Avaux had no superior among the numerous able diplomatics whom his country then possessed. Macaulay.

To cast off as useless or as no longer of service; to dismiss from employment, confidence, or favor; to discharge; to turn away. They blame the favorites, and think it nothing extraordinary that the queen should . . . resolve to discard them. Swift.

To relieve of an office or employment; to send away from service; to dismiss. Discharge the common sort With pay and thanks. Shak. Grindal . . . was discharged the government of his see. Milton.

To exercise reason; to employ the mind in judging and inferring; to reason. [Obs.] "Have sense or can discourse." Dryden.

To discard; to remove or discharge from office, service, or employment; as, the king dismisses his ministers; the matter dismisses his servant.

Removal from office or employment; discharge, either with honor or with disgrace.

The state of being unemployed; want of occupation. [R.]

To remove from a state, office, dignity, or employment; to discharge; to depose; as, to displace an officer of the revenue.

Subject to disposal; free to be used or employed as occasion may require; not assigned to any service or use. The great of this kingdom . . . has easily afforded a disposable surplus. Burke.