Search the Dictionary

By which; -- used relatively. "You take my life when you take the means whereby I life." Shak.

To reckon; to compute; to count. [Obs.] The motion of . . . the sun whereby years are accounted. Sir T. Browne.

bits. No virtue is acquired in an instant, but step by step. Barrow. Descent is the title whereby a man, on the death of his ancestor, acquires his estate, by right of representation, as his heir at law. Blackstone.

, supported in a beadhouse, and required to pray for the soul of its founder; an almsman. Whereby ye shall bind me to be your poor beadsman for ever unto Almighty God. Fuller.

fear; to evade; to leave unnoticed. [Obs.] Ifs and ands to qualify the words of treason, whereby every man might express his malice and blanch his danger. Bacon. I suppose you will not blanch Paris in your way. Reliq. Wot.

The letting or hiring a vessel by special contract, or the contract or instrument whereby a vessel is hired or let; as, a ship is offered for sale or charter. See Charter party, below. Charter land (O. Eng. Law), land held by charter, or in socage; bookland. -- Charter member, one of the original members of a society…

The force exerted between the atoms of elementary substance whereby they unite to form chemical compounds; chemical attaction; affinity; -- sometimes used as a general expression for chemical activity or relationship.

ve reasoning. That heavy bodies descend by gravity; and, again, that gravity is a quality whereby a heavy body descends, is an impertinent circle and teaches nothing. Glanvill.

or some other portion of the tongue from a part of the mouth with which it is in contact, whereby a sharp, clicking sound is produced. The sounds are four in number, and are called cerebral, palatal, dental, and lateral clicks or clucks, the latter being the noise ordinarily used in urging a horse forward.…

An instrument in writting whereby a defendant in an action acknowledges a plaintiff's demand to be just. Mozley & W.

mutual chemical action and reaction of the combustible and the oxygen of the atmosphere, whereby a new compound is formed. Ure. Supporter of combustion (Chem.), a gas as oxygen, the combination of which with a combustible, as coal, constitutes combustion.

istency of opinions; consistency of conduct or of character. That consistency of behavior whereby he inflexibly pursues those measures which appear the most just. Addison. Consistency, thou art a jewel. Popular Saying.

Sunstroke. -- Coup d'état (k Etym: [F.] (Politics), a sudden, decisive exercise of power whereby the existing government is subverted without the consent of the people; an unexpected measure of state, more or less violent; a stroke of policy. -- Coup d'oeil (k. Etym: [F.] (a) A single view; a rapid glance of the eye;…

appearance of light; the dawn; hence, the beginning. Milton. The tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us. Luke i. 78.

e merits or deserves, either of good or ill; desert. [Obs.] By many benefits and demerits whereby they obliged their adherents, [they] acquired this reputation. Holland.

A retiring of the sea, occasioning a change of high-water mark, whereby land is gained.

To express the specific difference of; to describe the properties of (a thing) whereby it is differenced from another of the same class; to discriminate. Earle.

r tenant, seized in right of another, of a larger estate than the tenant was entitled to, whereby the party ousted or injured was driven to his real action, and could not enter. This effect of such alienation is now obviated by statute in both England and the United States.

The process of extracting soluble substances from organic material and the like, whereby a quantity of saturated solvent is displaced, or removed, for another quantity of the solvent. Piston displacement (Mech.), the volume of the space swept through, or weight of steam, water, etc., displaced, in a given time, by the…

of a bill into a law; the giving of legislative sanction and executive approval to a bill whereby it is established as a law.