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flatten; to spread out; to unfold; to expand. [Obs.] The horse-chestnut is . . . ready to explain its leaf. Evelyn.

Capable of being explained or made plain to the understanding; capable of being interpreted. Sir. T. Browne.

One who explains; an expounder or expositor; a commentator; an interpreter.

Incapable of being explained; inexplicable.

Explaining itself; capable of being understood without explanation.

To resolve or explain. [Obs.] "We shall not absolve the doubt." Sir T. Browne.

To give a satisfactory reason; to tell the cause of; to explain; - - with for; as, idleness accounts for poverty. To account of, to esteem; to prize; to value. Now used only in the passive. "I account of her beauty." Shak. Newer was preaching more accounted of than in the sixteenth century. Canon Robinson.…

The doctrine that the anatomical structure explains all the phenomena of the organism or of animal life.

The theory which seeks to explain certain physiological and pathological by means of animalcules.

To explain or criticize by notes; as, to annotate the works of Bacon.

Of or pertaining to an antitype; explaining the type. -- An`ti*typ"ic*al*ly, adv.

ut a connecting word between them; as, I admire Cicero, the orator. Here, the second noun explains or characterizes the first. Growth by apposition (Physiol.), a mode of growth characteristic of non vascular tissues, in which nutritive matter from the blood is transformed on the surface of an organ into solid unorganiz…

To tell, declare, explain, or interpret; to divine; to guess; as, to aread a riddle or a dream. [Obs.] Therefore more plain aread this doubtful case. Spenser.

One who explains the higher functions and relations of the soul by the association of ideas; e. g., Hartley, J. C. Mill.

ells, etc. It is characterized by neuralgic pains and paralytic symptoms. It is variously explained, most probably as due to congestion of internal organs with subsequent stasis of the blood.

A word coined by Lewis Carroll (Charles L. Dodgson), and usually explained as a combination of chuckle and snort. [Humorous]

. -- To clear hawse (Naut.), to disentangle the cables when twisted. -- To clear up, to explain; to dispel, as doubts, cares or fears.

y, to write notes on the works of an author, with a view to illustrate his meaning, or to explain particular passages; to write annotations; -- often followed by on or upon. A physician to comment on your malady. Shak. Critics . . . proceed to comment on him. Dryden. I must translate and comment. Pope.…

mentary or comments; an expositor; an annotator. The commentator's professed object is to explain, to enforce, to illustrate doctrines claimed as true. Whewell.

icial confession settles the issue to which it applies; an extrajudical confession may be explained or rebutted. Wharton. Confession and avoidance (Law), a mode of pleading in which the party confesses the facts as stated by his adversary, but alleges some new matter by way of avoiding the legal effect claimed for them…