n. [ Formed fr. L. adesse to be present; ad + esse to be. ] (Eccl. Hist.) One who held the real presence of Christ's body in the eucharist, but not by transubstantiation. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Partaking of the same essence. -- Co`es*sen"tial*ly, adv. [1913 Webster]

We bless and magnify that coessential Spirit, eternally proceeding from both [The Father and the Son]. Hooker. [1913 Webster]

n. Participation of the same essence. Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. pl. [ G., fr. F. délicatesse. ] 1. Relishes for the table; dainties; delicacies. “A dealer in delicatessen”. G. H. Putnam. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

2. ready-to-eat foods, such as cold cuts, cooked meats, and prepared salads. [ PJC ]

3. sing.; pl. delicatessens. a store or section of a store where delicatessen{ 2 } is sold. “Get a sandwich for lunch at the delicatessen counter.” [ PJC ]

n. [ F. essence, L. essentia, formed as if fr. a p. pr. of esse to be. See Is, and cf. Entity. ] 1. The constituent elementary notions which constitute a complex notion, and must be enumerated to define it; sometimes called the nominal essence. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The constituent quality or qualities which belong to any object, or class of objects, or on which they depend for being what they are (distinguished as real essence); the real being, divested of all logical accidents; that quality which constitutes or marks the true nature of anything; distinctive character; hence, virtue or quality of a thing, separated from its grosser parts. [ 1913 Webster ]

The laws are at present, both in form and essence, the greatest curse that society labors under. Landor. [ 1913 Webster ]

Gifts and alms are the expressions, not the essence of this virtue [ charity ]. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

The essence of Addison's humor is irony. Courthope. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Constituent substance. [ 1913 Webster ]

And uncompounded is their essence pure. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A being; esp., a purely spiritual being. [ 1913 Webster ]

As far as gods and heavenly essences
Can perish. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

He had been indulging in fanciful speculations on spiritual essences, until . . . he had and ideal world of his own around him. W. Irving. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. The predominant qualities or virtues of a plant or drug, extracted and refined from grosser matter; or, more strictly, the solution in spirits of wine of a volatile or essential oil; as, the essence of mint, and the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

The . . . word essence . . . scarcely underwent a more complete transformation when from being the abstract of the verb “to be, ” it came to denote something sufficiently concrete to be inclosed in a glass bottle. J. S. Mill. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. Perfume; odor; scent; or the volatile matter constituting perfume. [ 1913 Webster ]

Nor let the essences exhale. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Essenced p. pr. & vb. n. Essencing ] To perfume; to scent. “Essenced fops.” Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Essenes [ Gr. &unr_;, lit., physicians, because they practiced medicine, fr. Chald āsayā to heal, cf. Heb. asā. ] One of a sect among the Jews in the time of our Savior, remarkable for their strictness and abstinence. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The doctrine or the practices of the Essenes. De Quincey. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. F. essentiel. See Essence. ] 1. Belonging to the essence, or that which makes an object, or class of objects, what it is. [ 1913 Webster ]

Majestic as the voice sometimes became, there was forever in it an essential character of plaintiveness. Hawthorne. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Hence, really existing; existent. [ 1913 Webster ]

Is it true, that thou art but a name,
And no essential thing? Webster (1623). [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Important in the highest degree; indispensable to the attainment of an object; indispensably necessary. [ 1913 Webster ]

Judgment's more essential to a general
Than courage. Denham. [ 1913 Webster ]

How to live? -- that is the essential question for us. H. Spencer. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Containing the essence or characteristic portion of a substance, as of a plant; highly rectified; pure; hence, unmixed; as, an essential oil. “Mine own essential horror.” Ford. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Mus.) Necessary; indispensable; -- said of those tones which constitute a chord, in distinction from ornamental or passing tones. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Med.) Idiopathic; independent of other diseases. [ 1913 Webster ]

Essential character (Biol.), the prominent characteristics which serve to distinguish one genus, species, etc., from another. --
Essential disease,
Essential fever (Med.), one that is not dependent on another. --
Essential oils (Chem.), a class of volatile oils, extracted from plants, fruits, or flowers, having each its characteristic odor, and hot burning taste. They are used in essences, perfumery, etc., and include many varieties of compounds; as lemon oil is a terpene, oil of bitter almonds an aldehyde, oil of wintergreen an ethereal salt, etc.; -- called also volatile oils in distinction from the fixed or nonvolatile. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. Existence; being. [ Obs. ] Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which is essential; first or constituent principle; as, the essentials of religion. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality of being essential; the essential part. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In an essential manner or degree; in an indispensable degree; really; as, essentially different. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Essentiality. Ld. Digby. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Essentiated; p. pr. & vb. n. Essentiating. ] To form or constitute the essence or being of. [ Obs. ] Boyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To become assimilated; to be changed into the essence. [ Obs. ] B. Jonson.

a. [ Pref. in- not + essential: cf. F. inessentiel. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Having no essence or being. H. Brooke. [ 1913 Webster ]

The womb of inessential Naught. Shelley. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Not essential; not required to achieve a given purpose; unessential; unnecessary. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Lessened p. pr. & vb. n. Lessening. ] [ From Less, a. ] To make less; to reduce; to make smaller, or fewer; to diminish; to lower; to degrade; as, to lessen a kingdom, or a population; to lessen speed, rank, fortune. [ 1913 Webster ]

Charity . . . shall lessen his punishment. Calamy. [ 1913 Webster ]

St. Paul chose to magnify his office when ill men conspired to lessen it. Atterbury.

Syn. -- To diminish; reduce; abate; decrease; lower; impair; weaken; degrade. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To become less; to shrink; to contract; to decrease; to be diminished; as, the apparent magnitude of objects lessens as we recede from them; his care, or his wealth, lessened. [ 1913 Webster ]

The objection lessens much, and comes to no more than this: there was one witness of no good reputation. Atterbury. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who, or that which, lessens. [ 1913 Webster ]

His wife . . . is the lessener of his pain, and the augmenter of his pleasure. J. Rogers (1839). [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. becoming less in dimension or degree; as, the lessening distance between us. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. a change downward; a decrease; a reduction.
Syn. -- decrease, drop-off. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ OE. messager, OF. messagier, F. messager. See Message. ] 1. One who bears a message; the bearer of a verbal or written communication, notice, or invitation, from one person to another, or to a public body; specifically, an office servant who bears messages. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One who, or that which, foreshows, or foretells. [ 1913 Webster ]

Yon gray lines
That fret the clouds are messengers of day. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Naut.) A hawser passed round the capstan, and having its two ends lashed together to form an endless rope or chain; -- formerly used for heaving in the cable. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Law) A person appointed to perform certain ministerial duties under bankrupt and insolvent laws, such as to take charge of the estate of the bankrupt or insolvent. Bouvier. Tomlins. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Carrier; intelligencer; courier; harbinger; forerunner; precursor; herald. [ 1913 Webster ]

Messenger bird, the secretary bird, from its swiftness. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Not essential. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A thing not essential. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F., fr. L. quinta essentia fifth essence. See Quint, and Essence. ] 1. The fifth or last and highest essence or power in a natural body. See Ferment oils, under Ferment. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The ancient Greeks recognized four elements, fire, air, water, and earth. The Pythagoreans added a fifth and called it nether, the fifth essence, which they said flew upward at creation and out of it the stars were made. The alchemists sometimes considered alcohol, or the ferment oils, as the fifth essence. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Hence: An extract from anything, containing its rarest virtue, or most subtle and essential constituent in a small quantity; pure or concentrated essence. [ 1913 Webster ]

Let there be light, said God; and forthwith light
Ethereal, first of things, quintessence pure,
Sprung from the deep. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The most characteristic form or most perfect example of some type of object. [ PJC ]

v. t. To distil or extract as a quintessence; to reduce to a quintessence. [ R. ] Stirling. “Truth quintessenced and raised to the highest power.” J. A. Symonds. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of the nature of a quintessence; purest; most characteristic. “Quintessential extract of mediocrity.” G. Eliot. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Essential above others, or above the constitution of a thing. J. Ellis. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Not essential; not of prime importance; not indispensable; unimportant. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Void of essence, or real being. [ R. ] Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Something not constituting essence, or something which is not of absolute necessity; as, forms are among the unessentials of religion. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In an unessential manner. [ 1913 Webster ]