%sista%

a. [ Cf. F. assistant, p. pr. of assister. ] 1. Helping; lending aid or support; auxiliary. [ 1913 Webster ]

Genius and learning . . . are mutually and greatly assistant to each other. Beattie. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Mil.) Of the second grade in the staff of the army; as, an assistant surgeon. [ U.S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ In the English army it designates the third grade in any particular branch of the staff. Farrow. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who, or that which, assists; a helper; an auxiliary; a means of help. [ 1913 Webster ]

Four assistants who his labor share. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

Rhymes merely as assistants to memory. Mrs. Chapone. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An attendant; one who is present. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a manner to give aid. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. desistance. ] The act or state of desisting; cessation. [ R. ] Boyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

If fatigue of body or brain were in every case followed by desistance . . . then would the system be but seldom out of working order. H. Spencer. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. Not able to burn or able to burn only with difficulty. [ Narrower terms: noncombustible (vs. combustible), incombustible ]
Syn. -- fireproof. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. Nonresistance; passive submission. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The principles or practice of a nonresistant; passive obedience; submission to authority, power, oppression, or violence without opposition. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Making no resistance. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who maintains that no resistance should be made to constituted authority, even when unjustly or oppressively exercised; one who advocates or practices absolute submission. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One who holds that violence should never be resisted by force; especially, a reformer who believes in passive resistance.
Syn. -- passive resister. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ F. résistance, LL. resistentia, fr. resistens, -entis, p. pr. See Resist. ] 1. The act of resisting; opposition, passive or active. [ 1913 Webster ]

When King Demetrius saw that . . . no resistance was made against him, he sent away all his forces. 1. Macc. xi. 38. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Physics) The quality of not yielding to force or external pressure; that power of a body which acts in opposition to the impulse or pressure of another, or which prevents the effect of another power; as, the resistance of the air to a body passing through it; the resistance of a target to projectiles. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A means or method of resisting; that which resists. [ 1913 Webster ]

Unfold to us some warlike resistance. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Elec.) A certain hindrance or opposition to the passage of an electrical current or discharge offered by conducting bodies. It bears an inverse relation to the conductivity, -- good conductors having a small resistance, while poor conductors or insulators have a very high resistance. The unit of resistance is the ohm. [ 1913 Webster ]

Resistance box (Elec.), a rheostat consisting of a box or case containing a number of resistance coils of standard values so arranged that they can be combined in various ways to afford more or less resistance. --
Resistance coil (Elec.), a coil of wire introduced into an electric circuit to increase the resistance. --
Solid of least resistance (Mech.), a solid of such a form as to experience, in moving in a fluid, less resistance than any other solid having the same base, height, and volume. [ 1913 Webster ]

. (Elec.) A rheostat consisting of an open frame on which are stretched spirals of wire. Being freely exposed to the air, they radiate heat rapidly. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. [ F. résistant: cf. L. resistens. See Resist. ] Making resistance; resisting. -- n. One who, or that which, resists. Bp. Pearson. [ 1913 Webster ]