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om others; single; distinct. [Obs.] Bacon. And God forbid that all a company Should rue a singular man's folly. Chaucer.

One who affects singularity. [Obs.] A clownish singularist, or nonconformist to ordinary usage. Borrow.

The quality or state of being singular; some character or quality of a thing by which it is distinguished from all, or from most, others; peculiarity. Pliny addeth this singularity to that soil, that the second year the very falling down of the seeds yieldeth corn. Sir. W. Raleigh. I took notice of this little figure f…

To make singular or single; to distinguish. [R.]

In a singular manner; in a manner, or to a degree, not common to others; extraordinarily; as, to be singularly exact in one's statements; singularly considerate of others. "Singularly handsome." Milman.

juice of several species of aloe, used as a purgative. [Plural in form but syntactically singular.] American aloe, Century aloe, the agave. See Agave.

The first person singular of the verb be, in the indicative mode, present tense. See Be. God said unto Moses, I am that am. Exod. iii. 14.

adjective, but is commonly called the indefinite article. It is used before nouns of the singular number only, and signifies one, or any, but somewhat less emphatically. In such expressions as "twice an hour," "once an age," a shilling an ounce (see 2d A, 2), it has a distributive force, and is equivalent to each, eve…

is contracted (as in ne'er for never, can't for can not), and as sign of the possessive, singular and plural; as, a boy's hat, boys' hats. In the latter use it originally marked the omission of the letter e.

The second person singular, indicative mode, present tense, of the substantive verb Be; but formed after the analogy of the plural are, with the ending -t, as in thou shalt, wilt, orig. an ending of the second person sing. pret. Cf. Be. Now used only in solemn or poetical style.

A singular nocturnal quadruped, allied to the lemurs, found in Madagascar (Cheiromys Madagascariensis), remarkable for its long fingers, sharp nails, and rodent-like incisor teeth.

avior of a ship in a storm; the behavior of the magnetic needle. A gentleman that is very singular in his behavior. Steele. To be upon one's good behavior, To be put upon one's good behavior, to be in a state of trial, in which something important depends on propriety of conduct. -- During good behavior, while (or so…

A very singular missile weapon used by the natives of Australia and in some parts of India. It is usually a curved stick of hard wood, from twenty to thirty inches in length, from two to three inches wide, and half or three quarters of an inch thick. When thrown from the hand with a quick rotary motion, it describes ve…

ird (Ptilonorhynchus violaceus or holosericeus), allied to the starling, which constructs singular bowers or playhouses of twigs and decorates them with brightcolored objects; the satin bird.

The game played with such pins; -- in form candlepins, used as a singular.

more planks doweled together, for the flooring of a temporary military bridge. Wilhelm. A singular, chess, is sometimes used. "Each chess consists of three planks." Farrow.

A singular or odd person; -- a familiar, humorous, or depreciatory appellation. [Colloq.] A few of us old codgers met at the fireside. Emerson.

Expressing a collection or aggregate of individuals, by a singular form; as, a collective name or noun, like assembly, army, juri, etc.

Any species or rail of the genera Crex and Porzana; -- so called from its singular cry. See Corncrake.

achystochrone. -- Curve tracing (Math.), the process of determining the shape, location, singular points, and other perculiarities of a curve from its equation. -- Plane curve (Geom.), a curve such that when a plane passes through three points of the curve, it passes through all the other points of the curve. Any oth…