n. [ F. contrôle a counter register, contr. fr. contr-rôle; contre (L. contra) + rôle roll, catalogue. See Counter and Roll, and cf. Counterroll. ] 1. A duplicate book, register, or account, kept to correct or check another account or register; a counter register. [ Obs. ] Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which serves to check, restrain, or hinder; restraint. “Speak without control.” Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Power or authority to check or restrain; restraining or regulating influence; superintendence; government; as, children should be under parental control. [ 1913 Webster ]

The House of Commons should exercise a control over all the departments of the executive administration. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Mach.) The complete apparatus used to control a mechanism or machine in operation, as a flying machine in flight; specifically (Aëronautics), the mechanism controlling the rudders and ailerons. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

5. (Climatology) Any of the physical factors determining the climate of any particular place, as latitude, distribution of land and water, altitude, exposure, prevailing winds, permanent high- or low-barometric-pressure areas, ocean currents, mountain barriers, soil, and vegetation. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

6. (Technology) in research, an object or subject used in an experimental procedure, which is treated identically to the primary subject of the experiment, except for the omission of the specific treatment or conditions whose effect is being investigated. If the control is a group of living organisms, as is common in medical research, it is called the
control group. For most experimental procedures, the results are not considered valid and reliable unless a proper control experiment is performed. There are various types of control used in experimental science, and often several groups of subjects serve as controls, being subjected to different variations of the experimental procedure, or controlling for several variables being tested. When the effects caused by an experimental treatment are not consistent and obvious, statistical analysis of the results is typically used to determine if there are any significant differences between the effects of different experimental conditions. [ PJC ]

7. (Technology) the part of an experimental procedure in which the controls{ 6 } are subjected to the experimental conditions. [ PJC ]

8. the group of technical specialists exercising control by remote communications over a distant operation, such as a space flight; as, the American Mission Control for manned flights is located in Houston. [ PJC ]

Board of control. See under Board. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Controlled p. pr. & vb. n. Controlling. ] [ F. contrôler, fr. contrôle. ] [ Formerly written comptrol and controul. ] 1. To check by a counter register or duplicate account; to prove by counter statements; to confute. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

This report was controlled to be false. Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To exercise restraining or governing influence over; to check; to counteract; to restrain; to regulate; to govern; to overpower. [ 1913 Webster ]

Give me a staff of honor for mine age,
But not a scepter to control the world. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

I feel my virtue struggling in my soul:
But stronger passion does its power control. Dryden.

3. to assure the validity of an experimental procedure by using a control{ 7 }. [ PJC ]

Syn. -- To restrain; rule; govern; manage; guide; regulate; hinder; direct; check; curb; counteract; subdue. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Capability of being controlled; controllableness. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Capable of being controlled, checked, or restrained; amenable to command. [ 1913 Webster ]

Passion is the drunkeness of the mind, and, therefore, . . . not always controllable by reason. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Capability of being controlled. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From control, v. t.: cf. F. contrôleur. ] 1. One who, or that which, controls or restraines; one who has power or authority to regulate or control; one who governs. [ 1913 Webster ]

The great controller of our fate
Deigned to be man, and lived in low estate. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An officer appointed to keep a counter register of accounts, or to examine, rectify, or verify accounts. [ More commonly written controller. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Naut.) An iron block, usually bolted to a ship's deck, for controlling the running out of a chain cable. The links of the cable tend to drop into hollows in the block, and thus hold fast until disengaged. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Elec.) Any electric device for controlling a circuit or system; specif.: (a) An electromagnet, excited by the main current, for throwing a regulator magnet into or out of circuit in an automatic device for constant current regulation. (b) A kind of multiple switch for gradually admitting the current to, or shutting it off from, an electric motor; as, a car controller for an electric railway car. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

5. (Mach.) A lever controlling the speed of an engine; -- applied esp. to the lever governing a throttle valve, as of a steam or gasoline engine, esp. on an automobile. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. The office of a controller. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The power or act of controlling; the state of being restrained; control; restraint; regulation; superintendence. [ 1913 Webster ]

You may do it without controlment. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Opposition; resistance; hostility. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Here have we war for war, and blood for blood,
Controlment for controlment. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Math., Engineering) That branch of Mathematics and Engineering which deals with the design, identification and analysis of systems with a view towards controlling them, i. e., to make them perform specific tasks or make them behave in a desired way. [ GG ]