Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary

EXPEDITATE — EXPOSITIVE

EXPEDITATE, v.t. [L. ex and pes, foot.] In the forest laws of England, to cut out the balls or claws of a dog’s fore feet, for the preservation of the king’s game.

EXPEDITATION, n. The act of cutting out the balls or claws of a dog’s fore feet.

EXPEDITE, v.t. [L. expedio; Eng. speed. Expedio is compound. We see the same root in impedio, to hinder to send against, to move in opposition.]

1. To hasten; to quicken; to accelerate motion or progress. The general sent orders to expedite the march of the army. Artificial heat may expedite the growth of plants.

2. To dispatch; to send from.

Such charters are expedited of course.

3. To hasten by rendering easy.

EXPEDITE, a. [L. expeditus.] Quick; speedy; expeditious; as expedite execution. [Little used.]

1. Easy; clear of impediments; unencumbered; as, to make a way plain and expedite. [Unusual.]

2. Active; nimble; ready; prompt.

The more expedite will be the soul in its operations. [Unusual.]

3. Light-armed. [Not used.]

EXPEDITELY, adv. Readily; hastily; speedily; promptly.

EXPEDITION, n. [L. expeditio.] Haste; speed; quickness; dispatch. The mail is conveyed with expedition.

1. The march of an army, or the voyage of a fleet, to a distant place, for hostile purposes; as the expedition of the French to Egypt; the expedition of Xerxes into Greece.

2. Any enterprize, undertaking or attempt by a number of persons; or the collective body which undertakes. We say, our government sent an expedition to the Pacific; the expedition has arrived.

EXPEDITIOUS, a. Quick; hasty; speedy; as an expeditious march.

1. Nimble; active; swift; acting with celerity; as an expeditious messenger or runner.

EXPEDITIOUSLY, adv. Speedily; hastily; with celerity or dispatch.

EXPEDITIVE, a. Performing with speed.

EXPEL, v.t. [L. expello; ex and pello, to drive; from the L. participle.]

1. To drive or force out from any inclosed place; as, to expel wind from the stomach, or air from a bellows. [The word is applicable to any force, physical or moral.]

2. To drive out; to force to leave; as, to expel the inhabitants of a country; to expel wild beasts from a forest.

3. To eject; to throw out.

4. To banish; to exile.

5. To reject; to refuse. [Little used.]

And would you not poor fellowship expel?

6. To exclude; to keep out or off.

7. In college government, to command to leave; to dissolve the connection of a student; to interdict him from further connection.

EXPELLABLE, a. That may be expelled or driven out.

Acid expellable by heat.

EXPELLED, ppr. Driven out or away; forced to leave; banished; exiled; excluded.

EXPELLER, n. He or that which drives out or away.

EXPELLING, ppr. Driving out; forcing away; compelling to quit or depart; banishing; excluding.

EXPEND, v.t. [L. expendo; ex and pendo, to weigh, from L. dispendo.]

1. To lay out; to disburse; to spend; to deliver or distribute, either in payment or in donations. We expend money for food, drink and clothing. We expend a little in charity, and a great deal in idle amusements.

2. To lay out; to use; to employ; to consume; as, to expend time and labor. I hope the time, labor and money expended on this book will not be wholly misemployed.

3. To use and consume; as, to expend hay in feeding cattle.

4. To consume; to dissipate; to waste; as, the oil of a lamp is expended to burning; water is expended in mechanical operations.

EXPEND, v.i. To be laid out, used or consumed.

EXPENDED, pp. Laid out; spent; disbursed; used; consumed.

EXPENDING, pr. Spending; using; employing; wasting.

EXPENDITURE, n. The act of expending; a laying out, as of money; disbursement. A corrupt administration is known by extravagant expenditures of public money.

National income and expenditure.

1. Money expended; expense.

The receipts and expenditures of this extensive country.

EXPENSE, n. expens’. [L. expensum.] A laying out or expending; the disbursing of money, or the employment and consumption, as of time or labor. Great enterprises are accomplished only by a great expense of money, time and labor.

1. Money expended; cost; charge; that which is disbursed in payment or in charity. A prudent man limits his expenses by his income. The expenses of war are rarely or never reimbursed by the acquisition either of goods or territory.

2. That which is used, employed, laid out or consumed; as the expense of time or labor.

EXPENSEFUL, a. expens’ful. Costly; expensive. [Little used.]

EXPENSELESS, a. expens’less. Without cost or expense.

EXPENSIVE, a. Costly; requiring much expense; as an expensive dress or equipment; an expensive family. Vices are usually more expensive than virtues.

1. Given to expense; free in the use of money; extravagant; lavish; applied to persons. Of men, some are frugal and industrious; others, idle land expensive.

2. Liberal; generous in the distribution of property.

This requires an active, expensive, indefatigable goodness.

EXPENSIVELY, adv. With great expense; at great cost or charge.

EXPENSIVENESS, n. Costliness; the quality of incurring or requiring great expenditures of money. The expensiveness of war is not its greatest evil.

1. Addictedness to expense; extravagance; applied to persons.

EXPERIENCE, n. [L. experientia, from experior, to try; ex and ant. perior; Gr. to attempt, whence pirate. Eng. to fare. The L. periculum, Eng. peril, are from the same root. We see the root of these words is to go, to fare, to drive, urge or press, to strain or stretch forward.]

1. Trial, or a series of trials or experiments; active effort or attempt to do or to prove something, or repeated efforts. A man attempts to raise wheat on moist or clayey ground; his attempt fails of success; experience proves that wheat will not flourish on such a soil. He repeats the trial, and his experience proves the same fact. A single trial is usually denominated an experiment; experience may be a series of trials, or the result of such trials.

2. Observation of a fact or of the same facts or events happening under like circumstances.

3. Trial from suffering or enjoyment; suffering itself; the use of the senses; as the experience we have of pain or sickness. We know the effect of light, of smell or of taste by experience. We learn the instability of human affairs by observation or by experience. We learn the value of integrity by experience. Hence,

4. Knowledge derived from trials, use, practice, or from a series of observations.

EXPERIENCE, v.t. To try by use, by suffering or by enjoyment. Thus we all experience pain, sorrow and pleasure; we experience good and evil; we often experience a change of sentiments and views.

1. To know by practice or trial; to gain knowledge or skill by practice or by a series of observations.

EXPERIENCED, pp. Tried; used; practiced.

1. Taught by practice or by repeated observations; skillful or wise by means of trials, use or observation; as an experienced artist; an experienced physician.

EXPERIENCER, n. One who makes trials or experiments.

EXPERIENCING, ppr. Making trial; suffering or enjoying.

EXPERIMENT, n. [L. experimentum, from experior, as in experience, which see.]

A trial; an act or operation designed to discover some unknown truth, principle or effect, or to establish it when discovered. Experiments in chimistry disclose the qualities of natural bodies. A series of experiments proves the uniformity of the laws of matter. It is not always safe to trust to a single experiment. It is not expedient to try many experiments in legislation.

A political experiment cannot be made in a laboratory, nor determined in a few hours.

EXPERIMENT, v.i. To make trial; to make an experiment; to operate on a body in such a manner as to discover some unknown fact, or to establish it when known. Philosophers experiment on natural bodies for the discovery of their qualities and combinations.

1. To try; to search by trial.

2. To experience. [Not used.]

EXPERIMENT, v.t. To try; to know by trial. [Little used.]

EXPERIMENTAL, a. Pertaining to experiment.

1. Known by experiment or trial; derived from experiment. Experimental knowledge is the most valuable, because it is most certain, and most safely to be trusted.

2. Built on experiments; founded on trial and observations, or on a series of results, the effects of operations; as experimental philosophy.

3. Taught by experience; having personal experience.

Admit to the holy communion such only as profess and appear to be regenerated, and experimental christians.

4. Known by experience; derived from experience; as experimental religion.

EXPERIMENTALIST, n. One who makes experiments.

EXPERIMENTALLY, adv. By experiment; by trial; by operation and observation of results.

1. By experience; by suffering or enjoyment. We are all experimentally acquainted with pain and pleasure.

EXPERIMENTER, n. One who makes experiments; one skilled in experiments.

EXPERIMENTING, ppr. Making experiments or trials.

EXPERT, a. [L. expertus, from experior, to try. See Experience.]

1. Properly, experienced; taught by use, practice or experience; hence, skillful; well instructed; having familiar knowledge of; as an expert philosopher.

2. Dextrous; adroit; ready; prompt; having a facility of operation or performance from practice; as an expert operator in surgery. It is usually followed by in; as expert in surgery; expert in performance on a musical instrument. Pope uses expert of arms, but improperly.

EXPERTLY, adv. In a skillful or dextrous manner; adroitly; with readiness and accuracy.

EXPERTNESS, n. Skill derived from practice; readiness; dexterity; adroitness; as expertness in musical performance; expertness in war or in seamanship; expertness in reasoning.

EXPETIBLE, a. [L. expetibilis.] That may be wished for; desirable. [Not used.]

EXPIABLE, a. [L. expiabilis. See Expiate.]

That may be expiated; that may be atoned for and done away; as an expiable offense; expiable guilt.

EXPIATE, v.t. [L. expio; ex and pio, to worship, to atone; pius, pious, mild. The primary sense is probably to appease, to pacify, to allay resentment, which is the usual sense of atone in most languages which I have examined. Pio is probably contracted from pico, and from the root of paco, the radical sense of which is to lay, set or fix; the primary sense of peach, pax. Hence the sense of mild in pius. But this opinion is offered only as probable.]

1. To atone for; to make satisfaction for; to extinguish the guilt of a crime by subsequent acts of piety or worship, by which the obligation to punish the crime is canceled. To expiate guilt or a crime, is to perform some act which is supposed to purify the person guilty; or some act which is accepted by the offended party as satisfaction for the injury; that is, some act by which his wrath is appeased, and his forgiveness procured.

2. To make reparation for; as, to expiate an injury.

3. To avert the threats of prodigies.

EXPIATED, pp. Atoned for; done away by satisfaction offered and accepted.

EXPIATING, ppr. Making atonement or satisfaction for; destroying or removing guilt, and canceling the obligation to punish.

EXPIATION, n. [L. expiatio.] The act of atoning for a crime; the act of making satisfaction for an offense, by which the guilt is done away, and the obligation of the offended person to punish the crime is canceled; atonement; satisfaction. Among pagans and Jews, expiation was made chiefly by sacrifices, or washings and purification. Among christians, expiation for the sins of men is usually considered as made only be the obedience and sufferings of Christ.

1. The means by which atonement for crimes is made; atonement; as sacrifices and purification among heathens, and the obedience and death of Christ among christians.

2. Among ancient heathens, an act by which the threats of prodigies were averted.

EXPIATORY, a. Having the power to make atonement or expiation; as an expiatory sacrifice.

EXPILATION, n. [L. expilatio, from expilo, to strip; ex and pilo, to peel.] A stripping; the act of committing waste on land; waste. [Little used.]

EXPIRABLE, a. [from expire.] That may expire; that may come to an end.

EXPIRATION, n. [L. expiratio, from expiro. See Expire.]

1. The act of breathing out, or forcing the air from the lungs. Respiration consists of expiration and inspiration.

2. The last emission of breath; death.

3. The emission of volatile matter from any substance; evaporation; exhalation; as the expiration of warm air from the earth.

4. Matter expired; exhalation; vapor; fume.

5. Cessation; close; end; conclusion; termination of a limited time; as the expiration of a month or year; the expiration of a term of years; the expiration of a lease; the expiration of a contract or agreement.

EXPIRE, v.t. [L. expiro, for exspiro; ex and spiro, to breathe.]

1. To breathe out; to throw out the breath from the lungs; opposed to inspire. We expire air at every breath.

2. To exhale; to emit in minute particles, as a fluid or volatile matter. The earth expires a damp or warm vapor; the body expires fluid matter from the pores; plants expire odors.

3. To conclude.

EXPIRE, v.i. To emit the last breath, as an animal; to die; to breathe the last.

1. To perish; to end; to fail or be destroyed; to come to nothing; to be frustrated.

With the loss of battle all his hopes of empire expired.

2. To fly out; to be thrown out with force. [Unusual.]

The ponderous ball expires.

3. To come to an end; to cease; to terminate; to close or conclude, as a given period. A lease will expire on the first of May. The year expires on Monday. The contract will expire at Michaelmas. The days had not expired.

When forty years had expired. Acts 7:30.

EXPIRING, ppr. Breathing out air from the lungs; emitting fluid or volatile matter; exhaling; breathing the last breath; dying; ending; terminating.

1. Pertaining to or uttered at the time of dying; as expiring words; expiring groans.

EXPLAIN, v.t. [L. explano; ex and planus, plain, open, smooth.]

To make plain, manifest or intelligible; to clear of obscurity; to expound; to illustrate by discourse, or by notes. The first business of a preacher is to explain his text. Notes and comments are intended to explain the scriptures.

EXPLAIN, v.i. To give explanations.

EXPLAINABLE, a. That may be cleared of obscurity; capable of being made plain to the understanding; capable of being interpreted.

EXPLAINED, pp. Made clear or obvious to the understanding; cleared of doubt, ambiguity or obscurity; expounded; illustrated.

EXPLAINER, n. One who explains; an expositor; a commentator; an interpreter.

EXPLAINING, ppr. Expounding; illustrating; interpreting; opening to the understanding; clearing of obscurity.

EXPLANATION, n. [L. explanatio.] The act of explaining, expounding or interpreting; exposition; illustration; interpretation; the act of clearing from obscurity and making intelligible; as the explanation of a passage in scripture, or of a contract or treaty.

1. The sense given by an expounder or interpreter.

2. A mutual exposition of terms, meaning or motives, with a view to adjust a misunderstanding and reconcile differences. Hence, reconciliation, agreement or good understanding of parties who have been at variance. The parties have come to an explanation.

EXPLANATORY, a. Serving to explain; containing explanation; as explanatory notes.

EXPLETION, n. [L. expletio.] Accomplishment; fulfillment. [Little used.]

EXPLETIVE, a. [L. expleo, to fill.] Filling; added for supply or ornament.

EXPLETIVE, n. In language, a word or syllable inserted to fill a vacancy, or for ornament. The Greek language abounds with expletives.

EXPLICABLE, a. [L. explicabilis. See Explicate.]

1. Explainable; that may be unfolded to the mind; that may be made intelligible. Many difficulties in old authors are not explicable.

2. That may be accounted for. The conduct and measures of the administration are not explicable, by the usual rules of judging.

EXPLICATE, v.t. [L. explico, to unfold; ex and plico, to fold.]

1. To unfold; to expand; to open. “They explicate the leaves.” [In this sense, the word is not common, and hardly admissible.]

2. To unfold the meaning or sense; to explain; to clear of difficulties or obscurity; to interpret.

The last verse of his last satyr is not yet sufficiently explicated.

EXPLICATED, pp. Unfolded; explained.

EXPLICATING, ppr. Unfolding; explaining; interpreting.

EXPLICATION, n. The act of opening or unfolding.

1. The act of explaining; explanation; exposition; interpretation; as the explication of the parables of our Savior.

2. The sense given by an expositor or interpreter.

EXPLICATIVE, EXPLICATORY, a. Serving to unfold or explain; tending to lay open to the understanding.

EXPLICATOR, n. One who unfolds or explains; an expounder.

EXPLICIT, a. [L. explicitus, part of explico, to unfold.]

1. Literally, unfolded. Hence, plain in language; open to the understanding; clear, not obscure or ambiguous; express, not merely implied. An explicit proposition or declaration is that in which the words, in their common acceptation, express the true meaning of the person who utters them, and in which there is no ambiguity or disguise.

2. Plain; open; clear; unreserved; having no disguised meaning or reservation; applied to persons. He was explicit in his terms.

EXPLICITLY, adv. Plainly; expressly; without duplicity; without disguise or reservation of meaning; not by inference or implication. He explicitly avows his intention.

EXPLICITNESS, n. Plainness of language or expression; clearness; direct expression of ideas or intention, without reserve or ambiguity.

EXPLODE, v.i. [L. explodo; ex and plaudo, to utter a burst of sound, from the root of loud.]

Properly, to burst forth, as sound; to utter a report with sudden violence. Hence, to burst and expand with force and a violent report, as an elastic fluid. We say, gun powder explodes, on the application of fire; a volcano explodes; a meteor explodes.

EXPLODE, v.t. To decry or reject with noise; to express disapprobation of, with noise or marks of contempt; as, to explode a play on the state. Hence,

1. To reject with any marks of disapprobation or disdain; to treat with contempt, and drive from notice; to drive into disrepute; or in general, to condemn; to reject; to cry down. Astrology is now exploded.

2. To drive out with violence and noise. [Little used.]

The kindled powder exploded the ball.

EXPLODED, pp. Driven away by hisses or noise; rejected with disapprobation or contempt; condemned; cried down.

EXPLODER, n. One who explodes; a hisser; one who rejects.

EXPLODING, ppr. Bursting and expanding with force and a violent report; rejecting with marks of disapprobation or contempt; rejecting; condemning.

EXPLOIT, n.

1. A deed or act; more especially, a heroic act; a deed of renown; a great or noble achievement; as the exploits of Alexander, of Caesar, of Washington. [Exploiture, in a like sense, is not in use.]

2. In a ludicrous sense, a great act of wickedness.

EXPLOIT, v.t. To achieve. [Not in use.]

EXPLORATE, v.t. To explore. [Not used. See Explore.]

EXPLORATION, n. [See Explore.] The act of exploring; close search; strict or careful examination.

EXPLORATOR, n. One who explores; one who searches or examines closely.

EXPLORATORY, a. Serving to explore; searching; examining.

EXPLORE, v.t. [L. exploro; ex and ploro, to cry out, to wail, to bawl. The compound appears to convey a very different sense from the simple verb ploro; but the primary sense is to stretch, strain, drive; applied to the voice, it is to strain or press out sounds or words; applied to the eyes, it is to stretch or reach, as in prying curiosity.]

1. To search for making discovery; to view with care; to examine closely by the eye.

Moses sent spies to explore the land of Canaan.

2. To search by any means; to try; as, to explore the deep by a plummet or lead.

3. To search or pry into; to scrutinize; to inquire with care; to examine closely with a view to discover truth; as, to explore the depths of science.

EXPLORED, pp. Searched; viewed; examined closely.

EXPLOREMENT, n. Search; trial. [Little used.]

EXPLORING, ppr. Searching; viewing; examining with care.

EXPLOSION, n. s as z. [from explode.]

1. A bursting with noise; a bursting or sudden expansion of any elastic fluid, with force and a loud report; as the explosion of powder.

2. The discharge of a piece of ordnance with a loud report.

3. The sudden burst of sound in a volcano, etc.

EXPLOSIVE, a. Driving or bursting out with violence and noise; causing explosion; as the explosive force of gun-powder.

EXPOLIATION, n. [L. expoliatio.] A spoiling; a wasting. [See Spoliation.]

EXPOLISH, for polish, a useless word.

EXPONENT, n. [L. exponens; expono, to expose or set forth; ex and pono, to place.]

1. In algebra, the number or figure which, placed above a root at the right hand, denotes how often that root is repeated, or how many multiplications are necessary to produce the power. Thus a[2] denotes the second power of the root a, or aa: a[4] denotes the fourth power. The figure is the exponent or index of the power.

2. The exponent of the ratio or proportion between two numbers or quantities, is the quotient arising when the antecedent is divided by the consequent. Thus six is the exponent of the ratio of thirty to five.

EXPONENTIAL, a. Exponential curves are such as partake both of the nature of algebraic and transcendental ones. They partake of the former, because they consist of a finite number of terms, though these terms themselves are indeterminate; and they are in some measure transcendental, because they cannot be algebraically constructed.

EXPORT, v.t. [L. exporto; ex and porto, to carry. Porto seems allied to fero, and Eng. bear.]

To carry out; but appropriately, and perhaps exclusively, to convey or transport, in traffic, produce and goods from one country to another, or from one state or jurisdiction to another, either by water or land. We export wares and merchandize from the United States to Europe. The Northern States export manufactures to South Carolina and Georgia. Goods are exported from Persia to Syria and Egypt on camels.

EXPORT, n. A commodity actually conveyed from one country or state to another in traffic, or a commodity which may be exported; used chiefly in the plural, exports. We apply the word to goods or produce actually carried abroad, or to such as are usually exported in commerce.

EXPORTABLE, a. That may be exported.

EXPORTATION, n. The act of exporting; the act of conveying goods and productions from one country or state to another in the course of commerce. A country is benefited or enriched by the exportation of its surplus productions.

1. The act of carrying out.

EXPORTED, pp. Carried out of a country or state in traffic.

EXPORTER, n. The person who exports; the person who ships goods, wares and merchandize of any kind to a foreign country, or who sends them to market in a distant country or state; opposed to importer.

EXPORTING, ppr. Conveying to a foreign country or to another state, as goods, produce or manufactures.

EXPORT-TRADE, n. The trade which consists in the exportation of commodities.

EXPOSAL, n. Exposure. [Not in use.]

EXPOSE, v.t. s as z. [L. expositum, from expono; ex and pono, to place. The radical sense of pono is to set or place, or rather to throw or thrust down. To expose is to set or throw open, or to thrust forth.]

1. To lay open; to set to public view; to disclose; to uncover or draw from concealment; as, to expose the secret artifices of a court; to expose a plan or design.

2. To make bare; to uncover; to remove from any thing that which guards or protects; as, to expose the head or the breast to the air.

3. To remove from shelter; to place in a situation to be affected or acted on; as, to expose one’s self to violent heat.

4. To lay open to attack, by any means; as, to expose an army or garrison.

5. To make liable; to subject; as, to expose one’s self to pain, grief or toil; to expose one’s self to insult.

6. To put in the power of; as, to expose one’s self to the seas.

7. To lay open to censure, ridicule or contempt.

A fool might once himself alone expose.

8. To lay open, in almost any manner; as, to expose one’s self to examination or scrutiny.

9. To put in danger. The good soldier never shrinks from exposing himself, when duty requires it.

10. To cast out to chance; to place abroad, or in a situation unprotected. Some nations expose their children.

11. To lay open; to make public. Be careful not unnecessarily to expose the faults of a neighbor.

12. To offer; to place in a situation to invite purchasers; as, to expose goods to sale.

13. To offer to inspection; as, to expose paintings in a gallery.

EXPOSED, pp. Laid open; laid bare; uncovered; unprotected; made liable to attack; offered for sale; disclosed; made public; offered to view.

EXPOSEDNESS, n. A state of being exposed, open to attack, or unprotected; as an exposedness to sin or temptation.

EXPOSER, n. One who exposes.

EXPOSING, ppr. Lying or laying open; making bare; putting in danger; disclosing; placing in any situation without protection; offering to inspection or to sale.

EXPOSITION, n. A laying open; a setting to public view.

1. A situation in which a thing is exposed or laid open, or in which it has an unobstructed view, or in which a free passage to it is open; as, a house has an easterly exposition, an exposition to the south or to a southern prospect. The exposition gives a free access to the air or to the sun’s rays.

2. Explanation; interpretation; a laying open the sense or meaning of an author or of any passage in a writing.

EXPOSITIVE, a. Explanatory; laying open.