Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary
INSUME — INTENTNESS
INSUME, v.t. [L. insumo.] To take in. [Not used.]
INSUPERABILITY, n. [from insuperable.]
The quality of being insuperable. [Little used.]
INSUPERABLE, a. [L. insuperabilis; in and superabilis, from supero, to overcome or surpass.]
1. That cannot be overcome or surmounted; insurmountable; as insuperable difficulties, objections or obstacles.
2. That cannot be passed over.
And middle natures, how they long to join,
Yet never pass th’ insuperable line.
The latter application is unusual. This word is rarely or never used in reference to any enemy, in the sense of invincible or unconquerable. We do not say that troops or enemies are insuperable; but the word is applied chiefly to difficulties, objections, obstacles or impediments.
INSUPERABLENESS, n. The quality of being insuperable or insurmountable.
INSUPERABLY, adv. In a manner or degree not to be overcome; insurmountably.
INSUPPORTABLE, a.
1. That cannot be supported or borne; as the weight or burden is insupportable.
2. That cannot be borne or endured; insufferable; intolerable. We say of heat or cold, insult, indignity or disgrace, it is insupportable.
INSUPPORTABLENESS, n. The quality of being insupportable; insufferableness; the state of being beyond endurance.
INSUPPORTABLY, adv. In a manner or degree that cannot be supported or endured.
INSUPPRESSIBLE, a. Not to be suppressed or concealed.
INSUPPRESSIVE, a. Not to be suppressed.
INSURABLE, a. [from insure.] That may be insured against loss or damage; proper to be insured.
The French law annuls the latter policies so far as they exceed the insurable interest which remained in the insured at the time of the subscription thereof.
INSURANCE, n. [from insure.] The act of insuring or assuring against loss or damage; or a contract by which one engages for a stipulated consideration or premium per cent to make up a loss which another may sustain. Insurance is usually made on goods or property exposed to uncommon hazard, or on lives.
Insurance company, a company or corporation whose business is to insure against loss or damage.
INSURANCER, n. An underwriter. [Not in use.]
INSURE, v.t. inshu’re. [in and sure.] To make sure or secure; to contract or covenant for a consideration to secure a person against loss; or to engage to indemnify another for the loss of any specified property, at a certain stipulated rate per cent, called a premium. The property usually insured is such as is exposed to extraordinary hazard. Thus the merchant insures his ship or its cargo, or both, against the dangers of the sea; houses are insured against fire; sometimes hazardous debts ar insured, and sometimes lives.
INSURE, v.i. To underwrite; to practice making insurance. This company insures at 3 per cent, or at a low premium.
INSURED, pp. Made sure; assured; secured against loss.
INSURER, n. One who insures; the person who contracts to pay the losses of another for a premium; an underwriter.
INSURGENT, a. [L. insurgens; in and surgo, to rise.] in opposition to lawful civil or political authority; as insurgent chiefs.
INSURGENT, n. A person who rises in opposition to civil or political authority; one who openly and actively resists the execution of laws. [See Insurrection.] An insurgent differs from a rebel. The insurgent opposes the execution of a particular law or laws; the rebel attempts to overthrow or change the government, or he revolts and attempts to place his country under another jurisdiction. All rebels are insurgents, but all insurgents are not rebels.
INSURING, ppr. Making secure; assuring against loss; engaging to indemnify for losses.
INSURMOUNTABLE, a.
1. Insuperable; that cannot be surmounted or overcome; as an insurmountable difficulty, obstacle or impedient.
2. Not to be surmounted; not to be passed by ascending; as an insurmountable wall or rampart.
INSURMOUNTABLY, adv. In a manner or degree not to be overcome.
INSURRECTION, n. [L. insurgo; in and surgo, to rise.]
1. A rising against civil or political authority; the open and active opposition of a number of persons to the execution of a law in a city or state. It is equivalent to sedition, except that sedition expresses a less extensive rising of citizens. It differs from rebellion, for the latter expresses a revolt, or an attempt to overthrow the government, to establish a different one or to place the country under another jurisdiction. It differs from mutiny, as it respects the civil or political government; whereas a mutiny is an open opposition to law in the army or navy. Insurrection is however used with such latitude as to comprehend either sedition or rebellion.
It is found that this city of old time hath made insurrection against kings, and that rebellion and sedition have been made therein. Ezra 4:19.
2. A rising in mass to oppose an enemy. [Little used.]
INSURRECTIONAL, a. Pertaining to insurrection; consisting in insurrection.
INSURRECTIONARY, a. Pertaining or suitable to insurrection.
INSUSCEPTIBILITY, n. [from insusceptible.] Want of susceptibility, or capacity to feel or perceive.
INSUSCEPTIBLE, a. [in and susceptible.]
1. Not susceptible; not capable of being moved, affected or impressed; as a limb insusceptible of pain; a heart insusceptible of pity.
2. Not capable of receiving or admitting.
INSUSURRATION, n. [L. insusurro.] The act of whispering into something.
INTACTABLE, a. [L. intactum; in and tactum, tango, to touch.] perceptible to the touch.
INTAGLIATED, a. intal’yated. [See Intaglio.]
Engraved or stamped on.
INTAGLIO, n. intal’yo. Literally, a cutting or engraving; hence, any thing engraved, or a precious stone with a head or an inscription engraved on it.
INTANGIBLE, a. [in and tangible.] That cannot or may not be touched.
1. Not perceptible to the touch.
A corporation is an artificial, invisible, intangible being.
INTANGIBLENESS, INTANGIBILITY, n. The quality of being intangible.
INTASTABLE, a. [in and tastable, taste.] That cannot be tasted; that cannot affect the organs of taste.
INTEGER, n. [L. See Entire.] The whole of any thing; particularly, in arithmetic, a whole number, in contradistinction to a fraction. Thus in the number 54.7, in decimal arithmetic, 54 is an integer, and 7 a fraction, or seven tenths of a unit.
INTEGRAL, a. Whole; entire.
A local motion keepeth bodies integral.
1. Making part of a whole, or necessary to make a whole.
2. Not fractional.
3. Uninjured; complete; not defective.
INTEGRAL, n. A whole; an entire thing.
INTEGRALITY, n. Entireness. [Not used.]
INTEGRALLY, adv. Wholly; completely.
INTEGRANT, a. Making part of a whole; necessary to constitute an entire thing.
Integrant particles of bodies, are those into which bodies are reduced by solution or mechanical division, as distinct from elementary particles.
INTEGRATE, v.t. [L. integro.] To renew; to restore; to perfect; to make a thing entire.
INTEGRATED, pp. Made entire.
INTEGRATION, n. The act of making entire.
INTEGRITY, n. [L. integritas, from integer.]
1. Wholeness; entireness; unbroken state. The constitution of the U. States guaranties to each state the integrity of its territories. The contracting parties guarantied the integrity of the empire.
2. The entire, unimpaired state of any thing, particularly of the mind; moral soundness or purity; incorruptness; uprightness; honesty. Integrity comprehends the whole moral character, but has a special reference to uprightness in mutual dealings, transfers of property, and agencies for others.
The moral grandeur of independent integrity is the sublimest thing in nature, before which the pomp of eastern magnificence and the splendor of conquest are odious as well as perishable.
3. Purity; genuine, unadulterated, unimpaired state; as the integrity of language.
INTEGUMATION, n. [L. intego, to cover.]
That part of physiology, which treats of the integuments of animals and plants.
INTEGUMENT, n. [L. integumentum, intego, to cover; in and tego. See Deck.] That which naturally invests or covers another thing; but appropriately and chiefly, in anatomy, a covering which invests the body, as the skin, or a membrane that invests a particular part. The skin of seeds and the shells of crustaceous animals are denominated integuments.
INTELLECT, n. [L. intellectus, from intelligo, to understand. See Intelligence.] That faculty of the human soul or mind, which receives or comprehends the ideas communicated to it by the senses or by perception, or by other means; the faculty of thinking; otherwise called the understanding. A clear intellect receives and entertains the same ideas which another communicates with perspicuity.
INTELLECTION, n. [L. intellectio, from intelligo.]
The act of understanding; simple apprehension of ideas.
INTELLECTIVE, a. Having power to understand.
1. Produced by the understanding.
2. To be perceived by the understanding, not by the senses.
INTELLECTUAL, a.
1. Relating to the intellect or understanding; belonging to the mind; performed by the understanding; mental; as intellectual power or operations.
2. Ideal; perceived by the intellect; existing in the understanding; as an intellectual scene.
3. Having the power of understanding; as an intellectual being.
4. Relating to the understanding; treating of the mind; as intellectual philosophy, now sometimes called mental philosophy.
INTELLECTUAL, n. The intellect or understanding. [Little used.]
INTELLECTUALIST, n. One who overrates the understanding.
INTELLECTUALITY, n. The state of intellectual power. [Not used.]
INTELLECTUALLY, adv. By means of the understanding.
INTELLIGENCE, n. [L. intelligentia, from intelligo, to understand. This verb is probably composed of in, inter, or intus, within, and lego to collect. The primary sense of understand is generally to take or hold, as we say, to take one’s ideas or meaning.]
1. Understanding; skill.
2. Notice; information communicated; an account of things distant or before unknown. Intelligence may be transmitted by messengers, by letters, by signals or by telegraphs.
3. Commerce of acquaintance; terms of intercourse. Good intelligence between men is harmony. So we say, there is a good understanding between persons, when they have the same views, or are free from discord.
4. A spiritual being; as a created intelligence. It is believed that the universe is peopled with innumerable superior intelligences.
INTELLIGENCE, v.t. To inform; to instruct. [Little used.]
INTELLIGENCED, pp. Informed; instructed. [Little used.]
INTELLIGENCE-OFFICE, n. An office or place where information may be obtained, particularly respecting servants to be hired.
INTELLIGENCER, n. One who sends or conveys intelligence; one who gives notice of private or distant transactions; a messenger.
1. A public paper; a newspaper.
INTELLIGENCING, ppr. or a. Giving or conveying notice to from a distance.
INTELLIGENT, a. [L. intelligens.]
1. Endowed with the faculty of understanding or reason. Man is an intelligent being.
2. Knowing; understanding; well informed; skilled; as an intelligent officer; an intelligent young man; an intelligent architect; sometimes followed by of; as intelligent of seasons.
3. Giving information. [Not used nor proper.]
INTELLIGENTIAL, a. Consisting of unbodied mind.
Food alike those pure
Intelligential substances require.
1. Intellectual; exercising understanding.
INTELLIGIBILITY, INTELLIGIBLENESS, n. [from intelligible.] The quality of state of being intelligible; the possibility of being understood.
INTELLIGIBLE, a. [L. intelligibilis.] That may be understood or comprehended; as an intelligible account. The rules of human duty are intelligible to minds of the smallest capacity.
INTELLIGIBLY, adv. In a manner to be understood; clearly; plainly; as, to write or speak intelligibly.
INTEMERATE, a. [L. intemeratus.] Pure; undefiled. [Not in use.]
INTEMERATENESS, n. State of being unpolluted. [Not used.]
INTEMPERAMENT, n. [in and temperament.]
A bad state or constitution; as the intemperament of an ulcerated part.
INTEMPERANCE, n. [L. intemperantia.]
1. In a general sense, want of moderation or due restraint; excess in any kind of action or indulgence; any exertion of body or mind, or any indulgence of appetites or passions which is injurious to the person or contrary to morality; as intemperance in study or in labor, in eating or drinking, or in any other gratification. Hence, appropriately and emphatically,
2. Habitual indulgence in drinking spirituous liquors, with or without intoxication.
Should a foreign army land on our shores, to levy such a tax upon us as intemperance levies--no mortal power could resist the swelling tide of indignation that would overwhelm it.
INTEMPERATE, a. [L. intemperatus; in and temperatus, from tempero, to moderate or restrain.]
1. Not moderate or restrained within due limits; indulging to excess any appetite or passion, either habitually or in a particular instance; immoderate in enjoyment or exertion. A man may be intemperate in passion, intemperate in labor, intemperate in study or zeal. Hence by customary application, intemperate denotes indulging to excess in the use of food or drink, but particularly in the use of spirituous liquors. Hence,
2. Addicted to an excessive or habitual use of spirituous liquors.
3. Passionate; ungovernable.
4. Excessive; exceeding the convenient mean or degree; as an intemperate climate. The weather may be rendered intemperate by violent winds, rain or snow, or by excessive cold or heat.
INTEMPERATE, v.t. To disorder. [Not in use.]
INTEMPERATELY, adv. With excessive indulgence of appetite or passion; with undue exertion; immoderately; excessively.
INTEMPERATENESS, n. Want of moderation; excessive degree of indulgence; as the intemperateness of appetite or passion.
1. Immoderate degree of any quality in the weather, as in cold, heat or storms.
INTEMPERATURE, n. Excess of some quality.
INTEMPESTIVE, a. [L. intempestivus.] Untimely. [Not used.]
INTEMPESTIVELY, adv. Unseasonably. [Not used.]
INTEMPESTIVITY, n. Untimeliness. [Not used.]
INTENABLE, a. [in and tenable.] That cannot be held or maintained; that is not defensible; as an intenable opinion; an intenable fortress.
[Untenable, though not more proper, is more generally used.]
INTEND, v.t. [L. intendo; in and tendo, to stretch or strain, from teneo; Gr. to stretch.]
1. To stretch; to strain; to extend; to distend.
By this the lungs are intended or remitted.
[This literal sense is now uncommon.]
2. To mean; to design; to purpose, that is, to stretch or set forward in mind. [This is now the usual sense.]
For they intended evil against thee. Psalm 21:11.
3. To regard; to fix the mind on; to attend; to take care of.
Having no children, she did with singular care and tenderness intend the education of Phillip.
[This use of the word is now obsolete. We now use tend and superintend or regard.]
4. To enforce; to make intense.
INTENDANT, n. [L. intendo.]
1. One who has the charge, oversight, direction or management of some public business; as an intendant of marine; as intendant of finance; a word much used in France, and sometimes in England and America, but we generally use in lieu of it superintendent.
2. In Charleston, S. Carolina, the mayor or chief municipal officer of the city.
INTENDED, pp. Designed; purposed; as, the insult was intended.
1. Stretched; made intense. [Little used.]
INTENDEDLY, adv. With intention or purpose; by design.
INTENDER, pp. One who intends.
INTENDIMENT, n. Attention; understanding; consideration.
INTENDING, ppr. Meaning; designing; purposing.
1. Stretching; distending. [Little used.]
INTENDMENT, n. Intention; design; in law, the true meaning of a person or of a law, or of any legal instrument. In the construction of statutes or of contracts, the intendment of the same is, if possible, to be ascertained, that is, the true meaning or intention of the legislator or contracting party.
INTENERATE, v.t. [L. in and tener, tender.]
To make tender; to soften.
Autumn vigor gives,
Equal, intenerating, milky grain.
INTENERATED, pp. Made tender or soft.
INTENERATING, ppr. Making tender.
INTENERATION, n. The act of making soft or tender.
[Intenerate and its derivatives are little used.]
INTENSE, a. intens’. [L. intensus, from intendo, to stretch.]
1. Literally, strained, stretched; hence, very close, strict, as when the mind is fixed or bent on a particular subject; as, intense study or application; intense thought.
2. Raised to a high degree; violent; vehement; as intense heat.
3. Very severe or keen; as intense cold.
4. Vehement; ardent; as intense phrases in language.
5. Extreme in degree.
The doctrine of the atonement supposes that the sins of men were so laid on Christ, that his sufferings were inconceivably intense and overwhelming.
6. Kept on the stretch; anxiously attentive; opposed to remiss.
INTENSELY, adv. intens’ly. To an extreme degree; vehemently; as a furnace intensely heated; weather intensely cold.
1. Attentively; earnestly.
INTENSENESS, n. intens’ness. The state of being strained or stretched; intensity; as the intenseness of a cord.
1. The state of being raised or concentrated to a great degree; extreme violence; as the intenseness of heat or cold.
2. Extreme closeness; as the intenseness of study or thought.
INTENSION, n. [L. intensio.] A straining, stretching or bending; the state of being strained; as the intension of a musical string.
1. Increase of power or energy of any quality; opposed to remission.
INTENSITY, n. The state of being strained or stretched; intenseness, as of a musical chord.
1. The state of being raised to a great degree; extreme violence; as the intensity of heat.
2. Extreme closeness; as intensity of application.
3. Excess; extreme degree; as the intensity of guilt.
INTENSIVE, a. Stretched, or admitting of extension.
1. Intent; unremitted; assiduous; as intensive circumspection.
2. Serving to give force or emphasis; as an intensive particle or preposition.
INTENSIVELY, adv. By increase of degree; in a manner to give force.
INTENT, a. [L. intentus, from intendo. See Intend.]
Literally, having the mind strained or bent on an object; hence, fixed closely; sedulously applied; eager in pursuit of an object; anxiously diligent; formerly with to, but now with on; as intent on business or pleasure; intent on the acquisition of science.
Be intent and solicitous to take up the meaning of the speaker--
INTENT, n. Literally, the stretching of the mind towards an object; hence, a design; a purpose; intention; meaning; drift; aim; applied to persons or things.
The principal intent of Scripture is to deliver the laws of duties supernatural.
I ask therefore, for what intent ye have sent for me? Acts 10:29.
To all intents, in all senses; whatever may be designed.
He was miserable to all intents and purposes.
INTENTION, n. [L. intentio. See Intend.]
1. Primarily, a stretching or bending of the mind towards an object; hence, uncommon exertion of the intellectual faculties; closeness of application; fixedness of attention; earnestness.
Intention is when the mind, with great earnestness and of choice, fixes its view on any idea, considers it on every side, and will not be called off by the ordinary solicitation of other ideas.
2. Design; purpose; the fixed direction of the mind to a particular object, or a determination to act in a particular manner. It is my intention to proceed to Paris.
3. End or aim; the object to be accomplished.
In chronical distempers, the principal intention is to restore the tone of the solid parts.
4. The state of being strained. [See Intension.]
INTENTIONAL, a. Intended; designed; done with design or purpose. The act was intentional, not accidental.
INTENTIONALLY, adv. By design; of purpose; not casually.
INTENTIONED, in composition; as well-intentioned, having good designs, honest in purpose; ill-intentioned, having ill designs.
INTENTIVE, a. Attentive; having the mind close applied.
[This word is nearly superseded by attentive.]