Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary
INVISCATE — IRRADIATE
INVISCATE, v.t. [L. in and viscus, glue, birdlime.]
1. To lime; to daub with glue.
2. To catch with glue or birdlime; to entangle with glutinous matter. [Little used.]
INVISCERATE, v.t. To breed; to nourish. [A bad word.]
INVISIBILITY, INVISIBLENESS, n. The state of being invisible; imperceptibleness to the sight.
INVISIBLE, a. s as z. [L. invisibilis; in and visibilis, viso, to see.] That cannot be seen; imperceptible by the sight. Millions of stars, invisible to the naked eye, may be seen by the telescope.
He endured, as seeing him who is invisible. Hebrews 11:27.
INVISIBLY, adv. In a manner to escape the sight; imperceptibly to the eye.
INVISION, n. s as z. [in and vision.] Want of vision, or the power of seeing. [Little used.]
INVITATION, n. [L. invitatio. See Invite.] The act of inviting; solicitation; the calling or requesting of a person’s company to visit, to dine, or to accompany him to any place.
INVITATORY, a. Using or containing invitations.
INVITATORY, n. A part of the service in the catholic church; a psalm or anthem sung in the morning.
--Antiphonary, a service-book, which contained all the invitatories, responsories and collects.
INVITE, v.t. [L. invito.]
1. To ask to do some act or to go to some place; to request the company of a person; as, to invite one to dine or sup; to invite friends to a wedding; to invite company to an entertainment; to invite one to an excursion into the country.
2. To allure; to draw to; to tempt to come; to induce by pleasure or hope.
--Shady groves, that easy sleep invite.
3. To present should be in a situation not to invite hostilities.
INVITED, pp. Solicited; requested to come or go in person; allured.
INVITER, n. One who invites.
INVITING, ppr. Soliciting the company of; asking to attend.
1. Alluring; tempting; drawing to; as an inviting amusement or prospect.
Nothing is so easy and inviting as the retort of abuse and sarcasm.
INVITING, n. Invitation.
INVITINGLY, adv. In such a manner as to invite or allure.
INVITINGNESS, n. The quality of being inviting.
INVITRIFIABLE, a. [in and vitrifiable, from vitrify.]
That cannot be vitrified or converted into glass.
INVOCATE, v.t. [L. invoco; in and voco, to call.] To invoke; to call on in supplication; to implore; to address in prayer.
If Dagon by thy god,
Go to his temple, invocate his aid--
[Instead of this word, invoke is generally used.]
INVOCATED, pp. Invoked; called on in prayer.
INVOCATING, ppr. Invoking.
INVOCATION, n. [L. invocatio.]
1. The act of addressing in prayer.
2. The form or act of calling for the assistance or presence of any being, particularly of some divinity; as the invocation of the muses.
The whole poem is a prayer to Fortune, and the invocation is divided between the two deities.
3. A judicial call, demand or order; as the invocation of papers or evidence into a court.
INVOICE, n.
1. In commerce, a written account of the particulars of merchandise, shipped or sent to a purchases, consignee, factor, etc. with the value or prices and charges annexed.
2. A written account of ratable estate.
INVOICE, v.t. To make a written account of goods or property with their prices.
Goods, wares and merchandise imported from Norway, and invoiced in the current dollar of Norway--
It is usual to invoice goods in the currency of the country in which the seller resides.
INVOICED, pp. Inserted in a list with the price or value annexed.
INVOICING, ppr. Making an account in writing of goods, with their prices or values annexed; inserting in an invoice.
INVOKE, v.t. [L. invoco; in and voco, to call; vox, a word.]
1. To address in prayer; to call on for assistance and protection; as, to invoke the Supreme Being. Poets invoke the muses for assistance.
2. To order; to call judicially; as, to invoke depositions or evidence into a court.
INVOKED, pp. Addressed in prayer for aid; called.
INVOKING, ppr. Addressing in prayer for aid; calling.
INVOLUCEL, n. [dim. of involucre.]
A partial involucre; an volucret.
INVOLUCELLATE, a. [supra.] Surrounded with involucels.
INVOLUCRUM, INVOLUCRE, n. [L. from involvo.] In botany, a calyx remote from the flower, particularly in the umbel, but applied also to the whorl and other kinds of inflorescence.
INVOLUCRED, a. Having an involucre, as umbels, whorls, etc.
INVOLUCRET, n. A small or partial involucrum.
INVOLUNTARILY, adv. [from involuntary.]
1. Not by choice; not spontaneously; against one’s will.
2. In a matter independent of the will.
INVOLUNTARINESS, n. Want of choice or will.
1. Independence on the will.
INVOLUNTARY, a. [L. in and voluntarius. See Voluntary.]
1. Not having will or choice; unwilling.
2. Independent of will or choice. The motion of the heart and arteries is involuntary, but not against the will.
3. Not proceeding from choice; not done willingly; opposed to the will. A slave and a conquered nation yield an involuntary submission to a master.
INVOLUTE, n. [L. involutus.] A curve traced by the end of a string folded upon a figure, or unwound from it.
INVOLUTE, INVOLUTED, a. [L. involutus, involvo. See Involve.]
In botany, rolled spirally inwards. Involuted foliation or venation, is when the leaves within the bud have their edges rolled spirally inwards on both sides towards the upper surface.
INVOLUTION, n. [L. involutio. See Involve.]
1. The action of involving or infolding.
2. The state of being entangled or involved; complication.
All things are mixed and causes blended by mutual involutions.
3. In grammar, the insertion of one or more clauses or members of a sentence between the agent or subject and the verb; a third intervening member within a second, etc.; as, habitual falsehood, if we may judge from experience, infers absolute depravity.
4. In algebra, the raising of a quantity from its root to any power assigned. Thus 2x2x2=8. Here 8, the third power of 2, is found in involution, or multiplying the number into itself, and the product by the same number.
INVOLVE, v.t. involv’. [L. involvo; in and volvo, to roll, Eng. to wallow.]
1. To envelop; to cover with surrounding matter; as, to involve one in smoke or dust.
2. To envelop in any thing which exists on all sides; as, to involve in darkness or obscurity.
3. To imply; to comprise. To be and not to be at the same time, involves a contradiction.
4. To entwist; to join; to connect.
He knows his end with mine involved.
5. To take in; to catch; to conjoin.
The gathering number, as it moves along,
Involves a vast involuntary throng.
6. To entangle. Let not our enemy involve the nation in war, nor our imprudence involve us in difficulty.
7. To plunge; to overwhelm. Extravagance often involves men in debt and distress.
8. To inwrap; to infold; to complicate or make intricate.
Some involved their snaky folds.
Florid, witty, involved discourses.
9. To blend; to mingle confusedly.
10. In algebra, to raise a quantity from the root to any assigned power; as a quantity involved to the third or fourth power.
INVOLVED, pp. Enveloped; implied; inwrapped; entangled.
INVOLVING, ppr. Enveloping; implying; comprising; entangling; complicating.
INVULNERABILITY, INVULNERABLENESS, n. [from invulnerable.] The quality or state of being invulnerable, or secure from wounds or injury.
INVULNERABLE, a. [L. invulnerabilis. See Vulnerable.]
That cannot be wounded; incapable of receiving injury.
Nor vainly hope
To be invulnerable in those bright arms.
INWALL, v.t. [in and wall.] To inclose or fortify with a wall.
INWARD, a.
1. Internal; interior; placed or being within; as the inward structure of the body.
2. Intimate; domestic; familiar.
3. Seated in the mind or soul.
INWARD, IN’WARDS, adv. Toward the inside. Turn the attention inward.
1. Toward the center or interior; as, to bend a thing inward.
2. Into the mind or thoughts.
Celestial light shine inward.
INWARDLY, adv. In the inner parts; internally.
Let Benedict, like covered fire,
Consume away in sighs, waste inwardly.
1. In the heart; privately; secretly. He inwardly repines. It is not easy to treat with respect a person whom we inwardly despise.
2. Towards the center.
INWARDNESS, n. Intimacy; familiarity. [Not used.]
1. Internal state. [Unusual.]
INWARDS, n. plu. The inner parts of an animal; the bowels; the viscera. Exodus 29:13, 17, 22.
INWEAVE, v.t. pret. inwove; pp. inwoven, inwove. [in and weave.]
To weave together; to intermix or intertwine by weaving.
Down they cast
Their crowns inwove with amaranth and gold.
INWHEEL, v.t. [in and wheel.] To encircle.
INWIT, n. [in and wit.] Mind; understanding.
INWOOD, v.t. To hide in woods.
INWORKING, ppr. or a. [in and work.]
Working or operating within.
INWORKING, n. Internal operation; energy within.
INWOVE, INWOVEN, pp. of inweave. Woven in; intertwined by weaving.
INWRAP, v.t. inrap’. [in and wrap.] To involve; to infold; to cover by wrapping; as, to be inwrapped in smoke or in a cloud; to inwrap in a cloke.
1. To involve in difficulty or perplexity; to perplex.
2. To ravish or transport.
INWREATHE, v.t. inre’the. [in and wreathe.]
To surround or encompass as with a wreath, or with something in the form of a wreath.
Resplendent locks inwreathed with beams.
INWROUGHT, pp. or a. inraut’. [in and wrought, from work.]
Wrought or worked in or among other things, adorned with figures.
IODATE, n. [See Iodine.]
A compound consisting of oxygen, iodin and a base.
IODIC, a. Iodic acid is a compound of iodin and oxygen.
IODIDE, n. A compound of iodin with a metal or other substance.
IODIN, IODINE, n. [Gr. resembling a violet.] In chimistry, a peculiar substance recently discovered by Courtois, a manufacturer of salt-peter in Paris. It is obtained from certain sea-weeds or marine plants. At the ordinary temperature of the atmosphere it is a solid, apparently a simple substance, at least hitherto undecomposed. It is incombustible, but in combining with several bodies, it exhibits the phenomena of combustion; hence it has been considered a supporter of combustion. Like chlorine, it destroys vegetable colors, but with less energy. Its color is bluish black or grayish black, of a metallic luster. It is often in scales, resembling those of micaceous iron ore; sometimes in brilliant rhomboidal plates, or in elongated octahedrons. Its taste is acrid, and it is somewhat poisonous. It is fusible at 225 deg. of Fahrenheit. The color of its vapor is a beautiful violet, whence its name.
IODOUS, a. Iodous acid is a compound of iodin and oxygen, containing less of the latter than iodic acid.
IODURET, n. A compound of iodin and a metallic or other base.
IOLITE, n. [Gr. a violet, and stone.] A mineral of a violet blue color, with a shade of purple or black, called also dichroit and cordierite. It occurs in regular six-sided prisms. Its varieties are peliom and steinheilite.
[Note. By the regular principles of pronouncing the Greek iota and the Shemitic jod, this word ought to be pronounced yolite.]
IONIC, a. [from Ionia.] The Ionic order, in architecture, is that species of column named from Ionia, in Greece. It is more slender than the Doric and Tuscan, but less slender and less ornamented than the Corinthian and Composite. It is simple, but majestic; its highth is 18 modules, and that of the entablature four and a half.
1. The Ionic dialect of the Greek language, is the dialect used in Ionia.
2. The Ionic sect of philosophers, was that founded by Thales of Miletus, in Ionia. Their distinguishing tenet was, that water is the principle of all natural things.
3. Denoting an airy kind of music. The Ionic or Ionian mode was, reckoning from grave to acute, the second of the five middle modes.
IPECACUANHA, n. A root produced in South America. Four sorts are mentioned, gray, brown, white, and yellow. The gray, or genuine kind, is referred by Mutis to the Psychotria emetica, but more recently by Brotero to the Callicocca Ipecacuanha, a plant growing in Brazil. These plants have been considered by some as the same, or as species of the same genus. This root is used as an emetic. Ipecacuanha is a little wrinkled root about the thickness of a moderate quill, much used as an emetic, and against diarrheas and dysenteries.
IRASCIBILITY, IRASCIBLENESS, n. [from irascible.] The quality of being irascible, or easily inflamed by anger; irritability of temper.
IRASCIBLE, a. [L. irascor, from ira. See Ire.]
Very susceptible of anger; easily provoked or inflamed with resentment; irritable; as an irascible man; an irascible temper.
IRE, n. [L. ira, wrath. See Eng. Wrath.] Anger; wrath; keen resentment; a word chiefly used in poetry.
Thus will persist, relentless in his ire.
IREFUL, a. [ire and full.] Angry; wrath; furious with anger.
The ireful bastard Orleans.
IREFULLY, adv. In an angry manner.
IRENARCH, n. [Gr.] An officer formerly employed in the Greek empire, to preserve the public tranquillity.
IRIDESCENCE, n. Exhibition of colors like those of the rainbow.
IRIDESCENT, a. [from iris.] Having colors like the rainbow.
IRIDIUM, n. [from iris.] A metal of a whitish color, not malleable, found in the ore of platinum, and in a native allow with osmium. Its specific gravity is above 18. It takes its name from the variety of colors which it exhibits while dissolving in muriatic acid. The native allow with osmium, or native iridium, is of a steel gray color and shining metallic luster. It usually occurs in small irregular flat grains, in alluvial soil, in S. America.
IRIS, n. plu. irises. [L. iris, iridis, the rainbow.]
1. The rainbow.
2. An appearance resembling the rainbow.
3. The colored circle which surrounds the pupil of the eye, by means of which that opening is enlarged and diminished.
4. The changeable colors which sometimes appear in the glasses of telescopes, microscopes, etc.
5. A colored spectrum which a triangular glass prism casts on a wall, when placed at a due angle in the sun-beams.
6. The flower-de-lis, or flag-=flower, a genus of many species.
IRISATED, a. Exhibiting the prismatic colors; resembling the rainbow.
IRISED, a. Containing colors like those of the rainbow.
IRISH, a. Pertaining to Ireland.
IRISH, n. A native of Ireland.
1. The language of the Irish; the Hiberno-Celtic.
IRISHISM, n. A mode of speaking peculiar to the Irish.
IRK, v.t. urk. To weary; to give pain to; used only impersonally; as, it irketh me, it gives me uneasiness. It is nearly obsolete.
IRKSOME, a. Wearisome; tedious; tiresome; giving uneasiness; used of something troublesome by long continuance or repetition; as irksome hours; irksome toil or task.
IRKSOMELY, adv. In a wearisome or tedious manner.
IRKSOMENESS, n. Tediousness; wearisomeness.
IRON, n. i’urn, or i’rn. [L. ferrum, for herrum. The radical elements of this word are not easily ascertained.]
1. A metal, the hardest, most common and most useful of all the metals; of a livid whitish color inclined to gray, internally composed, to appearance, of small facets, and susceptible of a fine polish. It is so hard and elastic as to be capable of destroying the aggregation of any other metal. Next to tin, it is the lightest of all metallic substances, and next to gold, the most tenacious. It may be hammered into plates, but not into leaves. Its ductility is more considerable. It has the property of magnetism; it is attracted by the lodestone, and will acquire its properties. It is found rarely in native masses, but in ores, mineralized by different substances, it abounds in every part of the earth. Its medicinal qualities are valuable.
2. An instrument or utensil made of iron; as a flat-iron, a smoothing-iron.
Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? Job 41:7.
3. Figuratively, strength; power; as a rod of iron. Daniel 2:40-42.
4. Irons, plu. fetters; chains; manacles; handcuffs. Psalm 105:18.
IRON, a. Made of iron; consisting of iron; as an iron gate; an iron bar; iron dust.
1. Resembling iron in color; as an iron gray color.
2. Harsh; rude; severe; miserable; as the iron age of the world.
Iron years of wars and dangers.
Jove crush’d the nations with an iron rod.
3. Binding fast; not to be broken; as the iron sleep of death.
4. Hard of understanding; dull; as an iron witted fool.
5. Firm; robust; as an iron constitution.
IRON, v.t. To smooth with an instrument of iron.
1. To shackle with irons; to fetter or handcuff.
2. To furnish or arm with iron.
IRON-CLAY, n. A substance intermediate between basalt and wacky, of a reddish brown color, and occurring massive or vesicular.
IRONED, pp. Smoothed with an iron; shackled; armed with iron.
IRONFLINT, n. Ferruginous quartz; a subspecies of quartz, opake or translucent at the edges, with a fracture more or less conchoidal, shining and nearly vitreous. It is sometimes in very minute and perfect six-sided prisms, terminated at both extremities by six-sides pyramids. It occurs also in masses, and in small grains. Its varieties are red, yellow, and greenish.
IRONHEARTED, a. Hardhearted; unfeeling; cruel.
IRONMOLD, n. A spot on cloth made by applying rusty iron to the cloth when wet.
IRONMONGER, n. A dealer in iron wares or hardware.
IRONSICK, a. In seamen’s language, a ship is said to be ironsick, when her bolts and nails are so much corroded or eaten with rust that she has become leaky.
IRONSTONE, n. An ore of iron.
IRONWOOD, n. The popular name of a genus of trees called Sideroxylon, of several species; so called from their hardness.
IRONWORK, n. A general name of the parts or pieces of a building which consist of iron; any thing made of iron.
IRONWORKS, n. plu. The works or establishment where pig-iron is wrought into bars, etc.
IRONWORT, n. A genus of plants called Sideritis, of several species.
IRONICAL, a. Expressing one thing and meaning another. An ironical expression is often accompanied with a manner of utterance which indicates that the speaker intends to be understood in a sense directly contrary to that which the words convey.
IRONICALLY, adv. By way of irony; by the use of irony. A commendation may be ironically severe.
IRONIST, n. One who deals in irony.
IRONY, a. [from iron.] Made or consisting of iron; partaking of iron; as irony chains; irony particles.
1. Resembling iron; hard.
IRONY, [L. ironia; Gr. a dissembler in speech.]
A mode of speech expressing a sense contrary to that which the speaker intends to convey; as, Nero was a very virtuous prince; Pope Hildebrand was remarkable for his meekness and humility. when irony is uttered, the dissimulation is generally apparent from the manner of speaking, as by a smile or an arch look, or perhaps by an affected gravity of countenance. Irony in writing may also be detected by the manner of expression.
IROUS, a. [from ire.] Apt to be angry.
IRRADIANCE, IRRADIANCY, n. [L. irradians, from irradio. See Irradiate.]
1. Emission of rays of light on an object.
2. Beams of light emitted; luster; splendor.
IRRADIATE, v.t. [L. irradio; in and radio, to shine. See Ray.]
1. To illuminate; to brighten; to make splendid; to adorn with luster.
2. To enlighten intellectually; to illuminate; as, to irradiate the mind.
3. To animate by heat or light.
4. To decorate with shining ornaments.