2. (Zool.) The posterior section of the body, behind the thorax, in insects, crustaceans, and other Arthropoda. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An additional name, or an epithet appended to a name; as, Aristides the Just. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Eng. Law) A surname. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Two bodies or systems of bodies are said to be equimomental when their moments of inertia about all straight lines are equal each to each. [ 1913 Webster ]

Equimomental cone of a given rigid body, a conical surface that has any given vertex, and is described by a straight line which moves in such manner that the moment of inertia of the given rigid body about the line is in all its positions the same. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To cherish with heat; to foster. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Which these soft fires . . . foment and warm. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To nurse to life or activity; to cherish and promote by excitements; to encourage; to abet; to instigate; -- used often in a bad sense; as, to foment ill humors. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

But quench the choler you foment in vain. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

Exciting and fomenting a religious rebellion. Southey. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. State of excitation; -- perh. confused with ferment.

He came in no conciliatory mood, and the foment was kept up. Julian Ralph. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

2. Excitation; instigation; encouragement. [ 1913 Webster ]

Dishonest fomentation of your pride. Young. [ 1913 Webster ]

Handsomeness is the mere animal excellence, beauty the mere imaginative. Hare. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The condition of being alone; the feeling of sadness resulting from being alone. [ PJC ]

2. (Astron.) The eighteenth asteroid. [ 1913 Webster ]

In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. 1 Cor. xv. 52. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Impulsive power; force; momentum. [ 1913 Webster ]

The moments or quantities of motion in bodies. Berkley. [ 1913 Webster ]

Touch, with lightest moment of impulse,
His free will. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Importance, as in influence or effect; consequence; weight or value; consideration. [ 1913 Webster ]

Matters of great moment. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

It is an abstruse speculation, but also of far less moment and consequence of us than the others. Bentley. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. An essential element; a deciding point, fact, or consideration; an essential or influential circumstance. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Math.) An infinitesimal change in a varying quantity; an increment or decrement. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Mech.) Tendency, or measure of tendency, to produce motion, esp. motion about a fixed point or axis. [ 1913 Webster ]

Moment of a couple (Mech.), the product of either of its forces into the perpendicular distance between them. --
Moment of a force. (Mech.) (a) With respect to a point, the product of the intensity of the force into the perpendicular distance from the point to the line of direction of the force. (b) With respect to a line, the product of that component of the force which is perpendicular to the plane passing through the line and the point of application of the force, into the shortest distance between the line and this point. (c) With respect to a plane that is parallel to the force, the product of the force into the perpendicular distance of its point of application from the plane. --
Moment of inertia, of a rotating body, the sum of the mass of each particle of matter of the body into the square of its distance from the axis of rotation; -- called also moment of rotation and moment of the mass. --
Statical moment, the product of a force into its leverage; the same as moment of a force with respect to a point, line, etc. --
Virtual moment. See under Virtual. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Instant; twinkling; consequence; weight; force; value; consideration; signification; avail. [ 1913 Webster ]

Not one momental minute doth she swerve. Breton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Important; momentous. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Mech.) Of or pertaining to moment or momentum. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. In a moment; in the immediate future. [ PJC ]

This momentary joy breeds months of pain. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. In a moment; every moment; momentarily. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Essential element, or constituent element. [ 1913 Webster ]

I shall state the several momenta of the distinction in separate propositions. Sir W. Hamilton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A property of an activity or course of events, viewed as analogous to forward motion or to physical momentum (def. 1), such that the activity is believed to be able to continue moving forward without further application of force or effort; -- often used to describe an increase in the acquisition of public support for a purpose; as, as, the petition drive gained momentum when it was mentioned in the newspapers. [ PJC ]

☞ In Rome, candidates for office were attended each by a nomenclator, who informed the candidate of the names of the persons whom they met and whose votes it was desirable to solicit. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One who gives names to things, or who settles and adjusts the nomenclature of any art or science; also, a list or vocabulary of technical names. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A vocabulary, dictionary, or glossary. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The technical names used in any particular branch of science or art, or by any school or individual; as, the nomenclature of botany or of chemistry; the nomenclature of Lavoisier and his associates. [ 1913 Webster ]

The yet unknown verdict, of which, however, all omened the tragical contents. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

Bid go with evil omen, and the brand
Of infamy upon my name. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The great, or gastrocolic, omentum forms, in most mammals, a great sac, which is attached to the stomach and transverse colon, is loaded with fat, and covers more or less of the intestines; the caul. The lesser, or gastrohepatic, omentum connects the stomach and liver and contains the hepatic vessels. The gastrosplenic omentum, or ligament, connects the stomach and spleen. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ In the Septuagint these books are called Paraleipome`nwn prw^ton and dey`teron, which is understood, after Jerome's explanation, as meaning that they are supplementary to the Books of Kings W. Smith. [ 1913 Webster ]