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Straightness; as, the rightness of a line. Bacon.

The quality or state of being bright; splendor; luster; brilliancy; clearness. A sudden brightness in his face appear. Crabbe.

Straightforwardness; explicitness; directness. [Archaic] Dante's concise forthrightness of phrase. Hawthorne.

the quality or state of being upright.

. . is actions above my gifts." Marlowe. I saw in the way a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun. Acts xxxvi. 13.

d by luminous rays falling on certain objects so that some parts stand forth in abnormal brightness and other parts are cast into a deep shadow.

in Medusa's head, in the constellation Perseus, remarkable for its periodic variation in brightness.

A photometer for measuring the brightness of stars.

The determination of the brightness of stars, and also of the sun, moon, and planets. --As`tro*pho`to*met"ric*al (#), a.

Fig.: That which gives, or helps to maintain, uprightness, steadiness, and security. It [piety] is the right ballast of prosperity. Barrow. Ballast engine, a steam engine used in excavating and for digging and raising stones and gravel for ballast. -- Ship in ballast, a ship carring only ballast.

A sword, so called from its glittering or flashing brightness. [Poetic] Tennyson. Paradise, so late their happy seat, Waved over by that flaming brand. Milton.

Splendor; brightness. [Poetic] Dark with excessive bright thy skirts appear. Milton.

The effect of burnishing; gloss; brightness; luster. Crashaw.

Whiteness; brightness; (as applied to moral conditions) usullied purity; innocence. [Obs.] Nor yor unquestioned integrity Shall e'er be sullied with one taint or spot That may take from your innocence and candor. Massinger.

Clearness; brightness; splendor. Floods, in whose more than crystal clarity, Innumerable virgin graces row. Beaumont.

Lacking clearness, brightness, or luster. "A cloudy diamond." Boyle.

The state or quality of being clear or bright; brightness; conspicuosness. [R.] Chapman.

Changed from a state of uprightness, correctness, truth, etc., to a worse state; vitiated; depraved; debased; perverted; as, corrupt language; corrupt judges. At what ease Might corrupt minds procure knaves as corrupt To swear against you. Shak.

The state or character of being crotchety, or whimsical. This belief in rightness is a kind of conscientiousness, and when it degenerates it becomes crotchetiness. J. Grote.

To be overpowered by light; to be confused by excess of brightness. An overlight maketh the eyes dazzle. Bacon. I dare not trust these eyes; They dance in mists, and dazzle with surprise. Dryden.