Result from Foreign Dictionaries (3 entries found)

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]: Principle \Prin"ci*ple\, n. [F. principe, L. principium beginning, foundation, fr. princeps, -cipis. See {Prince}.] 1. Beginning; commencement. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] Doubting sad end of principle unsound. --Spenser. [1913 Webster] 2. A source, or origin; that from which anything proceeds; fundamental substance or energy; primordial substance; ultimate element, or cause. [1913 Webster] The soul of man is an active principle. --Tillotson. [1913 Webster] 3. An original faculty or endowment. [1913 Webster] Nature in your principles hath set [benignity]. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster] Those active principles whose direct and ultimate object is the communication either of enjoyment or suffering. --Stewart. [1913 Webster] 4. A fundamental truth; a comprehensive law or doctrine, from which others are derived, or on which others are founded; a general truth; an elementary proposition; a maxim; an axiom; a postulate. [1913 Webster] Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection. --Heb. vi. 1. [1913 Webster] A good principle, not rightly understood, may prove as hurtful as a bad. --Milton. [1913 Webster] 5. A settled rule of action; a governing law of conduct; an opinion or belief which exercises a directing influence on the life and behavior; a rule (usually, a right rule) of conduct consistently directing one's actions; as, a person of no principle. [1913 Webster] All kinds of dishonesty destroy our pretenses to an honest principle of mind. --Law. [1913 Webster] 6. (Chem.) Any original inherent constituent which characterizes a substance, or gives it its essential properties, and which can usually be separated by analysis; -- applied especially to drugs, plant extracts, etc. [1913 Webster] Cathartine is the bitter, purgative principle of senna. --Gregory. [1913 Webster] {Bitter principle}, {Principle of contradiction}, etc. See under {Bitter}, {Contradiction}, etc. [1913 Webster] From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]: Principle \Prin"ci*ple\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Principled}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Principling}.] To equip with principles; to establish, or fix, in certain principles; to impress with any tenet, or rule of conduct, good or ill. [1913 Webster] Governors should be well principled. --L'Estrange. [1913 Webster] Let an enthusiast be principled that he or his teacher is inspired. --Locke. [1913 Webster] Princock From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]: principle n 1: a basic generalization that is accepted as true and that can be used as a basis for reasoning or conduct; "their principles of composition characterized all their works" [syn: {principle}, {rule}] 2: a rule or standard especially of good behavior; "a man of principle"; "he will not violate his principles" 3: a basic truth or law or assumption; "the principles of democracy" 4: a rule or law concerning a natural phenomenon or the function of a complex system; "the principle of the conservation of mass"; "the principle of jet propulsion"; "the right-hand rule for inductive fields" [syn: {principle}, {rule}] 5: rule of personal conduct [syn: {principle}, {precept}] 6: (law) an explanation of the fundamental reasons (especially an explanation of the working of some device in terms of laws of nature); "the rationale for capital punishment"; "the principles of internal-combustion engines" [syn: {rationale}, {principle}]