Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary

EGILOPS — ELECTRICITY

EGILOPS, n. Goat’s eye; an abscess in the inner canthus of the eye; fistula lachrymalis.

EGLANDULOUS, a. [e neg. and glandulous. See Gland.]

Destitute of glands.

EGLANTINE, n. A species of rose; the sweet brier; a plant bearing an odoriferous flower.

EGOIST, n. [from L. ego.] A name given to certain followers of Des Cartes, who held the opinion that they were uncertain of every thing except their own existence and the operations and ideas of their own minds.

EGOITY, n. Personality. [Not authorized.]

EGOTISM, n. [L. ego.] Primarily, the practice of too frequently using the word I. Hence, a speaking or writing much of one’s self; self-praise; self-commendation; the act or practice of magnifying one’s self, or making one’s self of importance.

A deplorable egotism of character.

EGOTIST, n. One who repeats the word I very often in conversation or writing; one who speaks much of himself, or magnifies his own achievements; one who makes himself the hero of every tale.

EGOTISTIC, a. Addicted to egotism.

1. Containing egotism.

EGOTIZE, v.t. To talk or write much of one’s self; to make pretension to self-importance.

EGREGIOUS, a. [L. egregius, supposed to be from e or ex grege, from or out of or beyond the herd, select, choice.]

1. Eminent; remarkable; extraordinary; distinguished; as egregious exploits; an egregious prince. But in this sense it is seldom applied to persons.

2. In a bad sense, great; extraordinary; remarkable; enormous; as an egregious mistake; egregious contempt. In this sense it is often applied to persons; as an egregious rascal; an egregious murderer.

EGREGIOUSLY, adv. Greatly; enormously; shamefully; usually in a bad sense; as, he is egregiously mistaken; they were egregiously cheated.

EGREGIOUSNESS, n. The state of being great or extraordinary.

EGRESS, n. [L. egressus, from egredior; e and gradior, to step.]

The act of going or issuing out, or the power of departing from any inclosed or confined place.

Gates of burning adamant,

Barr’d over us, prohibit all egress.

EGRESSION, n. [L. egressio.] The act of going out from any inclosure or place of confinement.

EGRET, n. The lesser white heron, a fowl of the genus Ardea; an elegant fowl with a white body and a crest on the head.

1. In botany, the flying feathery or hairy crown of seeds, as the down of the thistle.

EGRIOT, n. A kind of sour cherry.

EGYPTIAN, a. Pertaining to Egypt in Africa.

EGYPTIAN, n. A native of Egypt; also, a gypsy.

EIDER, n. A species of duck.

EIDER-DOWN, n. Down or soft feathers of the eider duck.

EIGH, exclam. An expression of sudden delight.

EIGHT, a. [L. octo.] Twice four; expressing the number twice four. Four and four make eight.

EIGHTEEN, a. ‘ateen. Eight and ten united.

EIGHTEENTH, a. ‘ateenth. The next in order after the seventeenth.

EIGHTFOLD, a. ‘atefold. Eight times the number or quantity.

EIGHTH, a. aitth. Noting the number eight; the number next after seven; the ordinal of eight.

EIGHTH, n. In music, an interval composed of five tones and two semitones.

EIGHTHLY, adv. aithly. In the eighth place.

EIGHTIETH, a. ‘atieth. [from eighty.] The next in order to the seventy ninth; the eighth tenth.

EIGHTSCORE, a. or n. ‘atescore. [eight and score; score is a notch noting twenty.] Eight times twenty; a hundred and sixty.

EIGHTY, a. ‘aty. Eight times ten; four score.

EIGNE, a. Eldest; an epithet, used in law to denote the eldest son; as bastard eigne.

1. Unalienable; entailed; belonging to the eldest son. [Not used.]

EISEL, n. Vinegar. [Not in use.]

EISENRAHM, n. The red and brown eisenrahm, the scaly red and brown hematite.

EITHER, a. or pron.

1. One or another of any number. Here are ten oranges; take either orange of the whole number, or take either of them. In the last phrase, either stands as a pronoun or substitute.

2. One of two. This sense is included in the foregoing.

Lepidus flatters both,

Of both is flattered; but he neither loves,

Nor either cares for him.

3. Each; every one separately considered.

On either side of the river. Revelation 22:2.

4. This word, when applied to sentences or propositions, is called a distributive or a conjunction. It precedes the first of two or more alternatives, and is answered by or before the second, or succeeding alternatives.

Either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he sleepeth. 1 Kings 18:27.

In this sentence, either refers to each of the succeeding clauses of the sentence.

EJACULATE, v.t. [L. ejaculor, from jaculor, to throw or dart, jaculum, a dart, from jacio, to throw.]

To throw out; to cast; to shoot; to dart; as rays of light ejaculated.

It is now seldom used, except to express the utterance of a short prayer; as, he ejaculated a few words.

EJACULATION, n. The act of throwing or darting out with a sudden force and rapid flight; as the ejaculation of light. [This sense is nearly obsolete.]

1. The uttering of a short prayer; or a short occasional prayer uttered.

EJACULATORY, a. Suddenly darted out; uttered in short sentences; as an ejaculatory prayer or petition.

1. Sudden; hasty; as ejaculatory repentance.

2. Casting; throwing out.

EJECT, v.t. [L. ejicio, ejectum; e and jacio, to throw; jacto.]

1. To throw out; to cast forth; to thrust out, as from a place inclosed or confined.

2. To discharge through the natural passages or emunctories; to evacuate.

3. To throw out or expel from an office; to dismiss from an office; to turn out; as, to eject a clergyman.

4. To dispossess of land or estate.

5. To drive away; to expel; to dismiss with hatred.

6. To cast away; to reject; to banish; as, to eject words from a language.

EJECTED, pp. Thrown out; thrust out; discharged; evacuated; expelled; dismissed; dispossessed; rejected.

EJECTING, ppr. Casting out; discharging; evacuating; expelling; dispossessing; rejecting.

EJECTION, n. [L. ejectio.] The act of casting out; expulsion.

1. Dismission from office.

2. Dispossession; a turning out from possession by force or authority.

3. The discharge of any excrementitious matter through the pores or other emunctories; evacuation; vomiting.

4. Rejection.

EJECTMENT, n. Literally, a casting out; a dispossession.

1. In law, a writ or action which lies for the recovery of possession of land from which the owner has been ejected, and for trial of title. Ejectment may be brought by the lessor against the lessee for rent in arrear, or for holding over his term; also by the lessee for years, who has been ejected before the expiration of his term.

EJECTOR, n. One who ejects or dispossesses another of his land.

EJULATION, n. [L. ejulatio, from ejulo, to cry, to yell, to wail.]

Outcry; a wailing; a loud cry expressive of grief or pain; mourning; lamentation.

EKE, v.t. [L. augeo.]

1. To increase; to enlarge; as, to eke a store of provisions.

2. To add to; to supply what is wanted; to enlarge by addition; sometimes with out; as, to eke or eke out a piece of cloth; to eke out a performance.

3. To lengthen; to prolong; as, to eke out the time.

EKE, adv. [L. ac, and also.] Also, likewise; in addition.

‘Twill be prodigious hard to prove,

That this is eke the throne of love.

[This word is nearly obsolete, being used only in poetry of the familiar and ludicrous kind.]

EKERBERGITE, n. [from Ekeberg.] A mineral, supposed to be a variety of scapolite.

EKED, pp. Increased; lengthened.

EKING, ppr. Increasing; augmenting; lengthening.

EKING, n. Increase or addition.

ELABORATE, v.t. [L. elaboro, from laboro, labor. See Labor.]

1. To produce with labor.

They in full joy elaborate a sigh.

2. To improve or refine by successive operations. The heat of the sun elaborates the juices of plants and renders the fruit more perfect.

ELABORATE, a. [L. elaboratus.] Wrought with labor; finished with great diligence; studies; executed with exactness; as an elaborate discourse; an elaborate performance.

Drawn to the life in each elaborate page.

ELABORATED, pp. Produced with labor or study; improved.

ELABORATELY, adv. With great labor or study; with nice regard to exactness.

ELABORATENESS, n. The quality of being elaborate or wrought with great labor.

ELABORATING, ppr. Producing with labor; improving; refining by successive operations.

ELABORATION, n. Improvement or refinement by successive operations.

ELAIN, n. [Gr. oily.] The oily or liquid principle of oils and fats.

ELAMPING, a. [See Lamp.] Shining. [Not in use.]

ELANCE, v.t. To throw or shoot; to hurl; to dart.

While thy unerring hand elanced--a dart.

ELAND, n. A species of heavy, clumsy antelope in Africa.

ELAOLITE, n. [Gr. olive.] A mineral, called also fettstein [fat-stone.] from its greasy appearance. It has a crystalline structure, more or less distinctly foliated in directions parallel to the sides of a rhombic prism, and also in the direction of the shorter diagonals of the bases. Its fracture is uneven, and sometimes imperfectly conchoidal. Some varieties are slightly chatoyant. It is fusible by the blow-pipe into a white enamel. Its colors are greenish or bluish gray, greenish blue and flesh red, and it is more or less translucent.

ELAPSE, v.i. elaps’. [L. elapsus, from elabor, labor, to slide.]

To slide away; to slip or glide away; to pass away silently, as time; applied chiefly or wholly to time. [Instead of elapse, the noun, we use lapse.]

ELAPSED, pp. Slid or passed away, as time.

ELAPSING, ppr. Sliding away; gliding or passing away silently, as time.

ELASTIC, ELASTICAL, a. [from the Gr. to impel, to drive.] Springing back; having the power of returning to the form from which it is bent, extended, pressed or distorted; having the inherent property of recovering its former figure, after any external pressure, which has altered that figure, is removed; rebounding; flying back. Thus a bow is elastic, and when the force which bends it is removed, it instantly returns to its former shape. The air is elastic; vapors are elastic; and when the force compressing them is removed, they instantly expand or dilate, and recover their former state.

ELASTICALLY, adv. In an elastic manner; by an elastic power; with a spring.

ELASTICITY, n. The inherent property in bodies by which they recover their former figure or state, after external pressure, tension or distortion. Thus elastic gum, extended, will contract to its natural dimensions, when the force is removed. Air, when compressed, will, on the removal of the compressing force, instantly dilate and fill its former space.

ELATE, a. [L. elatus.] Raised; elevated in mind; flushed, as with success. Whence, lofty; haughty; as elate with victory. [It is used chiefly in poetry.]

ELATE, v.t. To raise or swell, as the minds or spirits; to elevate with success; to puff up; to make proud.

1. To raise; to exalt. [Unusual.]

ELATED, pp. Elevated in mind or spirits; puffed up, as with honor, success or prosperity. We say, elated with success; elated with pride. [This is used in prose.]

ELATEDLY, adv. With elation.

ELATERIUM, n. A substance deposited from the very acrid juice of the Momordica elaterium, wild cucumber. It is in thin cakes of a greenish color and bitter taste, and is a powerful cathartic.

ELATERY, n. Acting force or elasticity; as the elatery of the air. [Unusual.]

ELATIN, n. The active principle of the elaterium, from which the latter is supposed to derive its cathartic power.

ELATION, n. An inflation or elevation of mind proceeding from self-approbation; self-esteem, vanity or pride, resulting from success. Hence, haughtiness; pride of prosperity.

ELBOW, n.

1. The outer angle made by the bend of the arm.

The wings that waft our riches out of sight

Grow on the gamester’s elbows.

2. Any flexure or angle; the obtuse angle of a wall, building or road.

To be at the elbow, is to be very near; to be by the side; to be at hand.

ELBOW, v.t. To push with the elbow.

1. To push or drive to a distance; to encroach on.

He’ll elbow out his neighbors.

ELBOW, v.i. To jut into an angle; to project; to bend.

ELBOW-CHAIR, n. A chair with arms to support the elbows; an arm-chair.

ELBOW-ROOM, n. Room to extend the elbows on each side; hence, in its usual acceptation, perfect freedom from confinement; ample room for motion or action.

ELD, n. Old age; decrepitude.

1. Old people; persons worn out with age.

[This word is entirely obsolete. But its derivative elder is in use.]

ELDER, a.

1. Older; senior; having lived a longer time; born, produced or formed before something else; opposed to younger.

The elder shall serve the younger. Genesis 25:23.

His elder son was in the field. Luke 15:25.

2. Prior in origin; preceding in the date of a commission; as an elder officer or magistrate. In this sense, we generally use senior.

ELDER, n. One who is older than another or others.

1. An ancestor.

Carry your head as your elders have done before you.

2. A person advanced in life, and who, on account of his age, experience and wisdom, is selected for office, Among rude nations, elderly men are rulers, judges, magistrates or counselors. Among the Jews, the seventy men associated with Moses in the government of the people, were elders. In the first christian churches, elders were persons who enjoyed offices or ecclesiastical functions, and the word includes apostles, pastors, teachers, presbyters, bishops or overseers. Peter and John call themselves elders. The first councils of christians were called presbyteria, councils of elders.

In the modern presbyterian churches, elders are officers who, with the pastors or ministers and deacons, compose the consistories or kirk-sessions, with authority to inspect and regulate matters of religion and discipline.

In the first churches of New England, the pastors or ministers were called elders or teaching elders.

ELDER, n. A tree or genus of trees, the Sambucus, of several species. The common elder of America bears blackberries. Some species bear red berries. The stem and branches contain a soft pith.

ELDERLY, a. Somewhat old; advanced beyond middle age; bordering on old age; as elderly people

ELDERSHIP, n. Seniority; the state of being older.

1. The office of an elder.

2. Presbytery; order of elders.

ELDEST, a. Oldest; most advanced in age; that was born before others; as the eldest son or daughter. It seems to always applied to persons or at least to animals, and not to things. If ever applied to things, it must signify, that was first formed or produced, that has existed the longest time. But applied to things we use oldest.

ELDING, n. Fuel. [Local.]

ELEATIC, a. An epithet given to a certain sect of philosophers, so called from Elea, or Velia, a town of the Lucani; as the Eleatic sect or philosophy.

ELECAMPANE, n. [L. helenium, from Gr. which signifies this plant and a feast in honor of Helen. Pliny informs us that this plant was so called because it was said to have sprung from the tears of Helen. The past part of the word is from the Latin campana; inula campana.]

A genus of plants, the Inula, of many species. The common elecampane has a perennial, thick, branching root, of a strong odor, and is used in medicine. It is sometimes called yellow star-wort. The Germans are said to candy the root, like ginger, calling it German spice.

ELECT, v.t. [L. electus, from eligo; e or ex and lego; Gr. to choose.]

1. Properly, to pick out; to select from among two or more, that which is preferred. Hence,

2. To select or take for an office or employment; to choose from among a number; to select or manifest preference by vote or designation; as, to elect a representative by ballot or viva voce; to elect a president or governor.

3. In theology, to designate, choose or select as an object of mercy or favor.

4. To choose; to prefer; to determine in favor of.

ELECT, a. Chosen, taken by preference from among two or more. Hence,

1. In theology, chosen as the object of mercy; chosen, selected or designated to eternal life; predestinated in the divine counsels.

2. Chosen, but no inaugurated, consecrated or invested with office; as bishop elect; emperor elect; governor or mayor elect. But in the scriptures, and in theology, this word is generally used as a noun.

ELECT, n. One chosen or set apart; applied to Christ.

Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth. Isaiah 42:1.

1. Chosen or designated by God to salvation; predestinated to glory as the end, and to sanctification as the means; usually with a plural signification, the elect.

Shall not God avenge his own elect? Luke 18:7.

If it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Matthew 24:24.

He shall send his angels--and they shall gather his elect from the four winds. Matthew 24:31.

2. Chosen; selected; set apart as a peculiar church and people; applied to the Israelites. Isaiah 45:4.

ELECTED, pp. Chosen; preferred; designated to office by some act of the constituents, as by vote; chosen or predestinated to eternal life.

ELECTING, ppr. Choosing; selecting from a number; preferring; designating to office by choice or preference; designating or predestinating to eternal salvation.

ELECTION, n. [L. electio.] The act of choosing; choice; the act of selecting one or more from others. Hence appropriately,

1. The act of choosing a person to fill an office or employment, by any manifestation of preference, as by ballot, uplifted hands or viva voce; as the election of a king, of a president, or a mayor.

Corruption in elections is the great enemy of freedom.

2. Choice; voluntary preference; free will; liberty to act or not. It is at his election to accept or refuse.

3. Power of choosing or selecting.

4. Discernment; discrimination; distinction.

To use men with much difference and election is good.

5. In theology, divine choice; predetermination of God, by which persons are distinguished as objects of mercy, become subjects of grace, are sanctified and prepared for heaven.

There is a remnant according to the election of grace. Romans 11:5.

6. The public choice of officers.

7. The day of a public choice of officers.

8. Those who are elected.

The election hath obtained it. Romans 11:7.

ELECTIONEER, v.i. To make interest for a candidate at an election; to use arts for securing the election of a candidate.

ELECTIONEERING, ppr. Using influence to procure the election of a person.

ELECTIONEERING, n. The arts or practices used for securing the choice of one to office.

ELECTIVE, a. Dependent on choice, as an elective monarchy, in which the king is raised to the throne by election; opposed to hereditary.

1. Bestowed or passing by election; as an office is elective.

2. Pertaining to or consisting in choice or right of choosing; as elective franchise.

3. Exerting the power of choice; as an elective act.

4. Selecting for combination; as elective attraction, which is a tendency in bodies to unite with certain kinds of matter in preference to others.

ELECTIVELY, adv. By choice; with preference of one to another.

ELECTOR, n. One who elects, or one who has the right of choice; a person who has, by law or constitution, the right of voting for an officer, In free governments, the people or such of them as possess certain qualifications of age, character and property, are the electors of their representatives, etc., in parliament, assembly, or other legislative body. In the United States, certain persons are appointed or chosen to be electors of the president or chief magistrate. In Germany, certain princes were formerly electors of the emperor, and elector was one of their titles, as the elector of Saxony.

ELECTORAL, a. Pertaining to election or electors. The electoral college in Germany consisted of all the electors of the empire, being nine in number, six secular princes and three archbishops.

ELECTORALITY, for electorate, is not used.

ELECTORATE, n. The dignity of an elector in the German empire.

1. The territory of an elector in the German empire.

ELECTRE, n. [L. electrum.] Amber. [Bacon used this word for a compound or mixed metal. But the word is not now used.]

ELECTRESS, n. The wife or widow of an elector in the German empire.

ELECTRICTRICAL, a. [Gr. amber.]

1. Containing electricity, or capable of exhibiting it when excited by friction; as an electric body, such as amber and glass; an electric substance.

2. In general, pertaining to electricity; as electric power or virtue; electric attraction or repulsion; electric fluid.

3. Derived from or produced by electricity; as electrical effects; electric vapor; electric shock.

4. Communicating a shock like electricity; as the electric eel or fish.

ELECTRIC, n. Any body or substance capable of exhibiting electricity by means of friction or otherwise, and of resisting the passage of it from one body to another. Hence an electric is called a non-conductor, an electric per se. Such are amber, glass, rosin, wax, gum-lac, sulphur, etc.

ELECTRICALLY, adv. In the manner of electricity, or by means of it.

ELECTRICIAN, n. A person who studies electricity, and investigates its properties, by observation and experiments; one versed in the science of electricity.

ELECTRICITY, n. The operations of a very subtil fluid, which appears to be diffused through most bodies, remarkable for the rapidity of its motion, and one of the most powerful agents in nature. The name is given to the operations of this fluid, and to the fluid itself. As it exists in bodies, it is denominated a property of those bodies, though it may be a distinct substance, invisible, intangible and imponderable. When an electric body is rubbed with a soft dry substance, as with woolen cloth, silk or fur, it attracts or repels light substances, at a greater or less distance, according to the strength of the electric virtue; and the friction may be continued, or increased, till the electric body will emit sparks or flashes resembling fire, accompanied with a sharp sound. When the electric fluid passes from cloud to cloud, from the clouds to the earth, or from the earth to the clouds, it is called lightning, and produces thunder. Bodies which, when rubbed, exhibit this property, are called electrics or non-conductors. Bodies, which, when excited, do not exhibit this property, as water and metals, are called non-electrics or conductors, as they readily convey electricity from one body to another, at any distance, and such is the rapidity of the electric fluid in motion, that no perceptible space of time is required for its passage to any known distance.

It is doubted by modern philosophers whether electricity is a fluid or material substance. Electricity, according to Professor Silliman, is a power which causes repulsion and attraction between the masses of bodies under its influence; a power which causes the heterogeneous particles of bodies to separate, thus producing chimical decomposition; one of the causes of magnetism.