Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary

SUBTRACTING — SUFFICIENT

SUBTRACTING, ppr. Withdrawing from the rest; deducting.

SUBTRACTION, n. [L. subtractio.] The act or operation of taking a part from the rest.

1. In arithmetic, the taking of a lesser number from a greater of the same kind or denomination; an operation by which is found the difference between two sums.

SUBTRACTIVE, a. Tending or having power to subtract.

SUBTRAHEND, n. In arithmetic, the sum or number to be subtracted or taken from another.

SUBTRIFID, a. Slightly trifid.

SUBTRIPLE, a. [sub and triple.] Containing a third or one part of three.

SUBTRIPLICATE, a. In the ratio of the cubes.

SUBTUTOR, n. [sub and tutor.] An under tutor.

SUBULATE, a. [L. subula, an awl.] In botany, shaped like an awl; awl-shaped. A subulate leaf, is linear at the bottom, but gradually tapering towards the end.

SUBURB, SUBURBS, n. [L. suburbium; sub and urbs, a city.]

1. A building without the walls of a city, but near them; or more generally, the parts that lie without the walls, but in the vicinity of a city. The word may signify buildings, streets or territory. We say, a house stands in the suburbs; a garden is situated in the suburbs of London or Paris.

2. The confines; the out part.

The suburb of their straw-built citadel.

SUBURBAN, a. [L. suburbanus. See Suburbs.] Inhabiting or being in the suburbs of a city.

SUBURBED, a. Bordering on a suburb; having a suburb on its out part.

SUBURBICARIAN, SUBURBICARY, a. [Low L. suburbicarius.] Being in the suburbs; an epithet applied to the provinces of Italy which composed the ancient diocese of Rome.

SUBVARIETY, n. [sub and variety.] A subordinate variety, or division of a variety.

SUBVENTANEOUS, a. [L. subventaneus; sub and ventus.]

Addle; windy. [A bad word and not in use.]

SUBVENTION, n. [L. subvenio.] The act of coming under.

1. The act of coming to relief; support; aid. [Little used.]

SUBVERSE, v.t. subvers’. To subvert. [Not in use.]

SUBVERSION, n. [L. subversio. See Subvert.] Entire overthrow; an overthrow of the foundation; utter ruin; as the subversion of a government or state; the subversion of despotic power; the subversion of the constitution or laws; the subversion of an empire.

SUBVERSIVE, a. Tending to subvert; having a tendency to overthrow and ruin. Every immorality is subversive of private happiness. Public corruption of morals is subversive of public happiness.

SUBVERT, v.t. [L. subverto; sub and verto, to turn.]

1. To overthrow from the foundation; to overturn; to ruin utterly. The northern nations of Europe subverted the Roman empire. He is the worst enemy of man, who endeavors to subvert the christian religion. The elevation of corrupt men to office will slowly, but surely, subvert a republican government.

This would subvert the principles of all knowledge.

2. To corrupt; to confound; to pervert the mind, and turn it from the truth. 2 Timothy 2:14.

SUBVERTED, pp. Overthrown; overturned; entirely destroyed.

SUBVERTER, n. One who subverts; an overthrower.

SUBVERTING, ppr. Overthrowing; entirely destroying.

SUBWORKER, n. [sub and worker.] A subordinate worker or helper.

SUCCEDANEOUS, a. [L. succedaneus; sub and cedo.] Supplying the place of something else; being or employed as a substitute.

SUCCEDANEUM, n. [supra.] That which is used for something else; a substitute.

SUCCEDE, SUCCEED, v.t. The first is the more analogical spelling, as in concede, recede. [L. succedo; sub and cedo, to give way, to pass.]

1. To follow in order; to take the place which another has left; as, the king’s eldest son succeeds his father on the throne.

John Adams succeeded Gen. Washington in the presidency of the United States. Lewis XVIII of France has lately deceased, and is succeeded by his brother Charles X.

2. To follow; to come after; to be subsequent or consequent.

Those destructive effects succeeded the curse.

3. To prosper; to make successful.

Succeed my wish, and second my design.

SUCCEED, v.i. To follow in order.

Not another comfort like to this,

Succeeds in unknown fate.

1. To come in the place of one that has died or quitted the place, or of that which has preceded. Day succeeds to night, and night to day.

Enjoy till I return

Short pleasures; for long woes are to succeed.

Revenge succeeds to love, and rage to grief.

2. To obtain the object desired; to accomplish what is attempted or intended; to have a prosperous termination. The enemy attempted to take the fort by storm, but did not succeed. The assault was violent, but the attempt did not succeed.

It is almost impossible for poets to succeed without ambition.

3. To terminate with advantage; to have a good effect.

Spenser endeavored imitation in the Shepherd’s Kalendar; but neither will it succeed in English.

4. To go under cover.

Or will you to the cooler cave succeed? [Not much used.]

SUCEEDED, pp. Followed in order; prospered; attended with success.

SUCCEEDER, n. One that follows or comes in the place of another; a successor. [But the latter word is generally used.]

SUCCEEDING, ppr. Following in order; subsequent; coming after; as in all succeeding ages. He attended to the business in every succeeding stage of its progress.

1. Taking the place of another who has quitted the place, or is dead; as a son succeeding his father; an officer succeeding his predecessor.

2. Giving success; prospering.

SUCCEEDING, n. The act or state of prospering or having success. There is a good prospect of his succeeding.

SUCCESS, n. [L. successus, from succedo.]

1. The favorable or prosperous termination of any thing attempted; a termination which answers the purpose intended; properly in a good sense, but often in a bad sense.

Or teach with more success her son,

The vices of the time to shun.

Every reasonable man cannot but wish me success in this attempt.

Be not discouraged in a laudable undertaking at the ill success of the first attempt.

Military successes, above all others, elevate the minds of a people.

2. Succession. [Not in use.]

[Note. Success without an epithet, generally means a prosperous issue.]

SUCCESSFUL, a. Terminating in accomplishing what is wished or intended; having the desired effect; hence, in a good sense, prosperous; fortunate; happy; as a successful application of medicine; a successful experiment in chimistry or in agriculture; a successful enterprise.

1. In a bad sense; as a successful attempt to subvert the constitution.

SUCCESSFULLY, adv. With a favorable termination of what is attempted; prosperously; favorably.

A reformation successfully carried on--

SUCCESSFULNESS, n. Prosperous conclusion; favorable event; success.

SUCCESSION, n. [L. successio.]

1. A following of things in order; consecution; series of things following one another, either in time or place. Thus we speak of a succession of events in chronology, a succession of kings or bishops, and a succession of words or sentences.

2. The act of succeeding or coming in the place of another; as, this happened after the succession of that prince to the throne. So we speak of the succession of heirs to the estates of their ancestors, or collateral succession.

3. Lineage; an order or series of descendants.

A long succession must ensue.

4. The power or right of coming to the inheritance of ancestors. He holds the property by the title of succession.

What people is so void of common sense,

To vote succession from a native prince?

Succession of crops, in agriculture, is more generally called rotation.

SUCCESSIVE, a.

1. Following in order or uninterrupted course, as a series of persons or things, and either in time or place; as the successive revolutions of years or ages; the successive kings of Egypt. The author holds this strain of declamation through seven successive pages or chapters.

Send the successive ills through ages down.

2. Inherited by succession; as a successive title; a successive empire. [Little used.]

SUCCESSIVELY, adv. In a series or order, one following another. He left three sons, who all reigned successively.

The whiteness at length changed successively into blue, indigo and violet.

SUCCESSIVENESS, n. The state of being successive.

SUCCESSLESS, a. Having no success; unprosperous; unfortunate; failing to accomplish what was intended.

Successless all her soft caresses prove.

Best temper’d steel successless prov’d in field.

SUCCESSLESSNESS, n. Unprosperous conclusion.

SUCCESSOR, n. [L.] One that succeeds or follows; one that takes the place which another has left, and sustains the like part or character; correlative to predecessor; as the successor of a deceased king; the successor of a president or governor; a man’s son and successor.

A gift to a corporation, either of lands or of chattels, without naming their successors, vests an absolute property in them so long as the corporation subsists.

SUCCIDUOUS, a. [L. succiduus; sub and cado.] Ready to fail; falling. [Little used.]

SUCCIFEROUS, a. [L. succus, juice, and fero, to bar.] Producing or conveying sap.

SUCCINATE, n. [from L. succinum, amber.] A salt formed by the succinic acid and a base.

SUCCINATED, a. Impregnated with the acid of amber.

SUCCINCT, a. [L. succinctus; sub and cingo, to surround.]

1. Tucked up; girded up; drawn up to permit the legs to be free.

Hib habit fit for speed succinct. [Little used.]

2. Compressed into a narrow compass; short; brief; concise; as a succinct account of the proceedings of the council.

Let all your precepts be succinct and clear.

SUCCINCTLY, adv. Briefly; concisely.

The facts were succinctly stated.

SUCCINCTNESS, n. Brevity; conciseness; as the succinctness of a narration.

SUCCINIC, a. Pertaining to amber; drawn from amber; as the succinic acid.

SUCCINITE, n. [L. succinum, amber.] A mineral of an amber color, considered as a variety of garnet. It frequently occurs in globular or granular masses, about the size of a pea.

SUCCINOUS, a. Pertaining to amber.

SUCCOR, v.t. [L. succurro; sub and curro, to run.]

Literally, to run to, or run to support; hence, to help or relieve when in difficulty, want or distress; to assist and deliver from suffering; as, to succor a besieged city; to succor prisoners.

He is able to succor them that are tempted. Hebrews 2:18.

SUCCOR, n. Aid; help; assistance; particularly, assistance that relieves and delivers from difficulty, want or distress.

My father

Flying for succor to his servant Banister--

1. The person or thing that brings relief.

The city when pressed received succors from an unexpected quarter.

The mighty succor which made glad the foe.

SUCCORED, pp. Assisted; relieved.

SUCCORER, n. He that affords relief; a helper; a deliverer.

SUCCORLESS, a. Destitute of help or relief.

SUCCORY, n. Wild endive, a plant of the genus Cichorium.

SUCCOTASH, n. In America, a mixture of green maiz and beans boiled. The dish, as well as the name, is borrowed from the native Indians.

SUCCUBA, SUCCUBUS, n. [L. sub and cubo.] A pretended kind of demon.

SUCCULENCE, SUCCULENCY, n. [See Succulent.] Juiciness; as the succulence of a peach.

SUCCULENT, a. [L. succulentus, from succus, juice.] Full of juice; juicy. Succulent plants are such as have a juicy and soft stem, as distinguished from such as are ligneous, hard and dry. Thus the grasses are succulent herbs, as are peas, beans and the like.

SUCCUMB, v.i. [L. succumbo; sub and cumbo, cubo, to lie down.]

1. To yield; to submit; as, to succumb to a foreign power.

2. To yield; to sink unresistingly; as, to succumb under calamities.

SUCCUMBING, ppr. Yielding; submitting; sinking.

SUCCUSSATION, n. [L. succusso, to shake.] A trot or trotting.

1. A shaking; succussion.

SUCCUSSION, n. [L. succussio, from succusso, to shake; sub and quasso.]

1. The act of shaking; a shake.

2. In medicine, a shaking of the nervous parts by powerful stimulants.

SUCH, a.

1. Of that kind; of the like kind. We never saw such a day; we have never had such a time as the present.

It has as before the thing to which it relates. Give your children such precepts as tend to make them wiser and better.

It is to be noted that the definitive adjective a, never precedes such, but is placed between it and the noun to which it refers; as such a man; such an honor.

2. The same that. This was the state of the kingdom at such time as the enemy landed.

3. The same as what has been mentioned.

That thou art happy, owe to God;

That thou continu’st such, owe to thyself.

4. Referring to what has been specified. I have commanded my servant to be at such a place.

5. Such and such, is used in reference to a person or place of a certain kind.

The sovereign authority may enact a law, commanding such and such an action.

SUCK, v.t. [L. sugo.]

1. To draw with the mouth; to draw out, as a liquid from a cask, or milk from the breast; to draw into the mouth. To suck is to exhaust the air of the mouth or of a tube; the fluid then rushes into the mouth or tube by means of the pressure of the surrounding air.

2. To draw milk from with the mouth; as, the young of an animal sucks the mother or dam, or the breast.

3. To draw into the mouth; to imbibe; as, to suck in air; to suck the juice of plants.

4. To draw or drain.

Old ocean suck’d through the porous globe.

5. To draw in, as a whirlpool; to absorb.

6. To inhale.

To suck in, to draw into the mouth; to imbibe; to absorb.

To suck out, to draw out with the mouth; to empty by suction.

To suck up, to draw into the mouth.

SUCK, v.i. To draw by exhausting the air, as with the mouth, or with a tube.

1. To draw the breast; as, a child, or the young of any animal, is first nourished by sucking.

2. To draw in; to imbibe.

SUCK, n. The act of drawing with the mouth.

1. Milk drawn from the breast by the mouth.

SUCKED, pp. Drawn with the mouth, or with an instrument that exhausts the air; imbibed; absorbed.

SUCKER, n. He or that which draws with the mouth.

1. The embolus or piston of a pump.

2. A pipe through which any thing is drawn.

3. The shoot of a plant from the roots or lower part of the stem; so called perhaps from its drawing its nourishment from the root or stem.

4. A fish, called also remora; also, a name of the Cyclopterus or lump-fish.

5. The name of a common river fish in New England.

SUCKER, v.t. To strip off shoots; to deprive of suckers; as, to sucker maiz.

SUCKET, n. A sweetmeat for the mouth.

SUCKING, ppr. Drawing with the mouth or with an instrument; imbibing; absorbing.

SUCKING-BOTTLE, n. A bottle to be filled with milk for infants to suck instead of the pap.

SUCKLE, n. A teat. [Not in use.]

SUCKLE, v.t. To give suck to; to nurse at the breast. Romulus and Remus are fabled to have been suckled by a wolf.

SUCKLED, pp. Nursed at the breast.

SUCKLING, ppr. Nursing at the breast.

SUCKLING, n. A young child or animal nursed at the breast. Psalm 8:2.

1. A sort of white clover.

SUCTION, n. The act of sucking or drawing into the mouth, as fluids.

1. The act of drawing, as fluids into a pipe or other thing.

SUDAK, n. A fish, a species of Perca.

SUDARY, n. [L. sudarium, from sudo, to sweat.] A napkin or handkerchief. [Not in use.]

SUDATION, n. [L. sudatio.] A sweating.

SUDATORY, n. [L. sudatorium, from sudo, to sweat.]

A hot house; a sweating bath.

SUDATORY, a. Sweating.

SUDDEN, a. [L. subitaneus.]

1. Happening without previous notice; coming unexpectedly, or without the common preparatives.

And sudden fear troubleth thee. Job 22:10.

For when they shall say, peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them. 1 Thessalonians 5:3.

2. Hasty; violent; rash; precipitate; passionate. [Not in use.]

SUDDEN, n. An unexpected occurrence; surprise. [Not in use.]

On a sudden, sooner than was expected; without the usual preparatives.

How art thou lost, how on a sudden lost!

[Of a sudden, is not usual, and is less elegant.]

SUDDENLY, adv. In an unexpected manner; unexpectedly; hastily; without preparation.

Therefore his calamity shall come suddenly. Proverbs 6:15.

1. Without premeditation.

SUDDENNESS, n. State of being sudden; a coming or happening without previous notice. The suddenness of the event precluded preparation.

SUDORIFIC, a. [L. sudor, sweat, and facio, to make.] sweat; exciting perspiration; as sudorific herbs.

SUDORIFIC, n. A medicine that produces sweat or sensible perspiration.

SUDOROUS, a. [L. sudor, sweat.] Consisting of sweat.

SUDS, n. sing. Water impregnated with soap.

To be in the suds, to be in turmoil or difficulty; a familiar phrase.

SUE, v.t. su. [L. sequor. See Seek and Essay.]

1. To seek justice or right from one by legal process; to institute process in law against one; to prosecute in a civil action for the recovery of a real or supposed right; as, to sue one for debt; to sue one for damages in trespass. Matthew 5:40.

2. To gain by legal process.

3. To clean the beak, as a hawk; a term of falconry.

To sue out, to petition for and take out; or to apply for and obtain; as, to sue out a writ in chancery; to sue out a pardon for a criminal.

SUE, v.i. To prosecute; to make legal claim; to seek for in law; as, to sue for damages.

1. To seek by request; to apply for; to petition; to entreat.

By adverse destiny constrain’d to sue

For counsel and redress, he sues to you.

2. To make interest for; to demand.

Caesar come to Rome to sue for the double honor of a triumph and the consulship.

SUED, pp. Prosecuted; sought in law.

SUET, n. The fat of an animal, particularly that about the kidneys; lard.

SUETY, a. Consisting of suet, or resembling it; as a suety substance.

SUFFER, v.t. [L. suffero; sub, under, and fero, to bear; as we say, to undergo.]

1. To feel or bear what is painful, disagreeable or distressing, either to the body or mind; to undergo. We suffer pain of body; we suffer grief of mind. The criminal suffers punishment; the sinner suffers the pangs of conscience in this life, and is condemned to suffer the wrath of an offended God. We often suffer wrong; we suffer abuse; we suffer injustice.

2. To endure; to support; to sustain; not to sink under.

Our spirit and strength entire,

Strongly to suffer and support our pains.

3. To allow; to permit; not to forbid or hinder. Will you suffer yourself to be insulted?

I suffer them to enter and possess.

Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor, and not suffer sin upon him. Leviticus 19:17.

4. To undergo; to be affected by. Substances suffer an entire change by the action of fire, or by entering into new combinations.

5. To sustain; to be affected by; as, to suffer loss or damage.

SUFFER, v.i. To feel or undergo pain of body or mind; to bear what is inconvenient. We suffer with pain, sickness or sorrow. We suffer with anxiety. We suffer by evils past and by anticipating others to come. We suffer from fear and from disappointed hopes.

1. To undergo, as punishment.

The father was first condemned to suffer on a day appointed, and the son afterwards, the day following.

2. To be injured; to sustain loss or damage. A building suffers for want of seasonable repairs. It is just that we should suffer for neglect of duty.

Public business suffers by private infirmities.

SUFFERABLE, a. That may be tolerated or permitted; allowable.

1. That may be endured or borne.

SUFFERABLY, adv. Tolerably; so as to be endured.

SUFFERANCE, n. The bearing of pain; endurance; pain endured; misery.

He must not only die,

But thy unkindness shall the death draw out

To ling’ring sufferance.

1. Patience; moderation; a bearing with patience.

But hasty heat temp’ring with sufferance wise.

2. Toleration; permission; allowance; negative consent by not forbidding or hindering.

In process of time, sometimes by sufferance, sometimes by special leave and favor, they erected to themselves oratories.

In their beginning, they are weak and wan,

But soon through sufferance grow to fearful end.

An estate at sufferance, in law, is where a person comes into possession of land by lawful title, but keeps it after the title ceases, without positive leave of the owner.

SUFFERED, pp. Borne; undergone; permitted; allowed.

SUFFERER, n. One who endures or undergoes pain, either of body or mind; one who sustains inconvenience or loss; as suffers by poverty or sickness. Men are sufferers by fire or losses at sea; they are sufferers by the ravages of an enemy; still more are they sufferers by their own vices and follies.

1. One that permits or allows.

SUFFERING, ppr. Bearing; undergoing pain, inconvenience or damage; permitting; allowing.

SUFFERING, n. The bearing of pain, inconvenience or loss; pain endured; distress, loss or injury incurred; as sufferings by pain or sorrow; sufferings by want or by wrongs.

SUFFICE, v.i. suffi’ze. [L. sufficio; sub and facio.]

To be enough or sufficient; to be equal to the end proposed.

To recount Almighty works

What words or tongue of seraph can suffice?

SUFFICE, v.t. suffi’ze. To satisfy; to content; to be equal to the wants or demands of.

Let it suffice thee; speak no more to me of this matter. Deuteronomy 3:26.

Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. John 14:8; Ruth 2:14.

1. To afford; to supply.

The pow’r appeas’d, with wind suffic’d the sail. [Not in use.]

SUFFICED, pp. suffi’zed. Satisfied; adequately supplied.

SUFFICIENCY, n. The state of being adequate to the end proposed.

His sufficiency is such, that he bestows and possesses, his plenty being unexhausted.

1. Qualification for any purpose.

I am not so confident of my own sufficiency as not willingly to admit the counsel of others.

2. Competence; adequate substance or means.

An elegant sufficiency, content.

3. Supply equal to wants; ample stock or fund.

4. Ability; adequate power.

Our sufficiency is of God. 2 Corinthians 3:5.

5. Conceit; self-confidence. [See Self-sufficiency.]

SUFFICIENT, a. [L. sufficiens.] Enough; equal to the end proposed; adequate to wants; competent; as provision sufficient for the family; water sufficient for the voyage; an army sufficient to defend the country.

My grace is sufficient for thee. 2 Corinthians 12:9.

1. Qualified; competent; possessing adequate talents or accomplishments; as a man sufficient for an office.

2. Fit; able; of competent power or ability.

Who is sufficient for these things? 2 Corinthians 2:16.