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v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Administered p. pr. & vb. n. Administering. ] [ OE. aministren, OF. aministrer, F. administer, fr. L. administrare; ad + ministrare to serve. See Minister. ] 1. To manage or conduct, as public affairs; to direct or superintend the execution, application, or conduct of; as, to administer the government or the state. [ 1913 Webster ]

For forms of government let fools contest:
Whate'er is best administered is best. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To dispense; to serve out; to supply; execute; as, to administer relief, to administer the sacrament. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ Let zephyrs ] administer their tepid, genial airs. Philips. [ 1913 Webster ]

Justice was administered with an exactness and purity not before known. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To apply, as medicine or a remedy; to give, as a dose or something beneficial or suitable. Extended to a blow, a reproof, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

A noxious drug had been administered to him. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To tender, as an oath. [ 1913 Webster ]

Swear . . . to keep the oath that we administer. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Law) To settle, as the estate of one who dies without a will, or whose will fails of an executor. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To manage; conduct; minister; supply; dispense; give out; distribute; furnish. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To contribute; to bring aid or supplies; to conduce; to minister. [ 1913 Webster ]

A fountain . . . administers to the pleasure as well as the plenty of the place. Spectator. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Law) To perform the office of administrator; to act officially; as, A administers upon the estate of B. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Administrator. [ Obs. ] Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Pertaining to administration, or to the executive part of government. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Capable of being administered; as, an administrable law. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ F., p. pr. of administrer. See Administer. ] Executive; acting; managing affairs. -- n. One who administers. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ L. administratus, p. p. of administrare. ] To administer. [ R. ] Milman. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. administracioun, L. administratio: cf. F. administration. ] 1. The act of administering; government of public affairs; the service rendered, or duties assumed, in conducting affairs; the conducting of any office or employment; direction; management. [ 1913 Webster ]

His financial administration was of a piece with his military administration. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The executive part of government; the persons collectively who are intrusted with the execution of laws and the superintendence of public affairs; the chief magistrate and his cabinet or council; or the council, or ministry, alone, as in Great Britain. [ 1913 Webster ]

A mild and popular administration. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

The administration has been opposed in parliament. Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The act of administering, or tendering something to another; dispensation; as, the administration of a medicine, of an oath, of justice, or of the sacrament. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Law) (a) The management and disposal, under legal authority, of the estate of an intestate, or of a testator having no competent executor. (b) The management of an estate of a deceased person by an executor, the strictly corresponding term execution not being in use. [ 1913 Webster ]

Administration with the will annexed, administration granted where the testator has appointed no executor, or where his appointment of an executor for any cause has failed, as by death, incompetency, refusal to act, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Conduct; management; direction; regulation; execution; dispensation; distribution. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. administrativus: cf. F. administratif. ] Pertaining to administration; administering; executive; as, an administrative body, ability, or energy. -- Ad*min"is*tra`tive*ly, adv. [1913 Webster]

n. [ L. ] 1. One who administers affairs; one who directs, manages, executes, or dispenses, whether in civil, judicial, political, or ecclesiastical affairs; a manager. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Law) A man who manages or settles the estate of an intestate, or of a testator when there is no competent executor; one to whom the right of administration has been committed by competent authority. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The position or office of an administrator. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ NL. ] A woman who administers; esp., one who administers the estate of an intestate, or to whom letters of administration have been granted; a female administrator. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From Aladin, for Ala Eddin, i. e., height of religion, a learned divine under Mohammed II. and Bajazet II. ] One of a sect of freethinkers among the Muslims. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The state or condition of being an albino: abinoism; leucopathy. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Affected with albinism. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A climber of the Alps. [ 1913 Webster ]

. (Law) An administration subordinate to, and in aid of, the primary or principal administration of an estate. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

‖ n. [ Aniline + -ism. ] (Med.) A disease caused by chronic exposure to aniline; aniline toxicity. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. + AS ]

n. One opposed to vaccination. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ }, n. The doctrines held by Augustine or by the Augustinians. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. The religion or system of doctrines of the Brahmans; the religion of Brahma. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. An adherent of the religion of the Brahmans. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Hot-headed; furious. [ R. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Like brine; somewhat salt; saltish. “Brinish tears.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. State or quality of being brinish. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who works with the burin. For. Quart. Rev. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The doctrine that the state is supreme over the church in ecclesiastical matters.
Syn. -- Erastianism, Caesaropapism. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ Cf. F. Calvinisme. ] The theological tenets or doctrines of John Calvin (a French theologian and reformer of the 16th century) and his followers, or of the so-called calvinistic churches. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The distinguishing doctrines of this system, usually termed the five points of Calvinism, are original sin or total depravity, election or predestination, particular redemption, effectual calling, and the perseverance of the saints. It has been subject to many variations and modifications in different churches and at various times. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. Calviniste. ] A follower of Calvin; a believer in Calvinism. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. Of or pertaining to Calvin, or Calvinism; following Calvin; accepting or Teaching Calvinism. “Calvinistic training.” Lowell. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. chauvinisme, from Nicolas Chauvin, a character represented as making grotesque and threatening displays of his attachment to his fallen chief, Napoleon I., in 1815 (in the play La Cocarde tricolor, 1831). ] 1. Blind and absurd devotion to a fallen leader or an obsolete cause; hence, absurdly vainglorious or exaggerated patriotism. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. exaggerated and unreasoning partisanship to any group or cause; -- as, male chauvinism, i.e. belief in the superiority of males. [ PJC ]

-- Chau"vin*ist, n. & adj. -- Chau`vin*is"tic a. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ To have a generous belief in the greatness of one's country is not chauvinism. It is the character of the latter quality to be wildly extravagant, to be fretful and childish and silly, to resent a doubt as an insult, and to offend by its very frankness. Prof. H. Tuttle. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. fanatically patriotic.
Syn. -- flag-waving(prenominal), jingoistic, nationalistic, superpatriotic, ultrapatriotic. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. (Med.) A morbid condition produced by the habitual and excessive use of cocaine. -- Co*ca"in*ist, n. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

n. [ F. crétinisme. ] A condition of endemic or inherited idiocy, accompanied by physical degeneracy and deformity (usually with goiter), frequent in certain mountain valleys, esp. of the Alps. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Biol.) The theory or doctrines put forth by Darwin. See above. Huxley. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. same as desalinization.
Syn. -- desalination, desalinization. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. A believer in destiny; a fatalist. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Metaph.) The doctrine that the will is not free, but is inevitably and invincibly determined by motives, preceding events, and natural laws. [ 1913 Webster ]

Its superior suitability to produce courage, as contrasted with scientific physical determinism, is obvious. F. P. Cobbe. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Metaph.) One who believes in determinism. Also adj.; as, determinist theories. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. of or pertaining to determinism; as, deterministic theories. [ PJC ]

2. causally determined and not subject to random chance. [ PJC ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Diminished p. pr. & vb. n. Diminishing. ] [ Pref. di- (= L. dis-) + minish: cf. L. diminuere, F. diminuer, OE. diminuen. See Dis-, and Minish. ] 1. To make smaller in any manner; to reduce in bulk or amount; to lessen; -- opposed to augment or increase. [ 1913 Webster ]

Not diminish, but rather increase, the debt. Barrow. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To lessen the authority or dignity of; to put down; to degrade; to abase; to weaken. [ 1913 Webster ]

This doth nothing diminish their opinion. Robynson (More's Utopia). [ 1913 Webster ]

I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations. Ezek. xxix. 15. [ 1913 Webster ]

O thou . . . at whose sight all the stars
Hide their diminished heads. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Mus.) To make smaller by a half step; to make (an interval) less than minor; as, a diminished seventh. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To take away; to subtract. [ 1913 Webster ]

Neither shall ye diminish aught from it. Deut. iv. 2. [ 1913 Webster ]

Diminished column, one whose upper diameter is less than the lower. --
Diminished scale, or
Diminishing scale, a scale of gradation used in finding the different points for drawing the spiral curve of the volute. Gwilt. --
Diminishing rule (Arch.), a board cut with a concave edge, for fixing the entasis and curvature of a shaft. --
Diminishing stile (Arch.), a stile which is narrower in one part than in another, as in many glazed doors.

Syn. -- To decrease; lessen; abate; reduce; contract; curtail; impair; degrade. See Decrease. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To become or appear less or smaller; to lessen; as, the apparent size of an object diminishes as we recede from it. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Capable of being diminished or lessened. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who, or that which, diminishes anything. Clerke (1637). [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a manner to diminish. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Diminution. [ R. ] Cheke. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. Disdainfully. [ Obs. ] Vives. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A diviner. [ Obs. ] “ I am no divinistre.” Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]