{ } a. Having a natural contrariety, or constitutional aversion, to a thing; characterized by antipathy; -- often followed by to. Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

pos>a. [ See Apathy. ] Void of feeling; not susceptible of deep emotion; passionless. a woman who became active rather than apathetic as she grew older [ 1913 Webster ]

2. showing a lack of interest or concern; indifferent. an apathetic audience
Syn. -- indifferent [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adv. In an apathetic manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Bespattered p. pr. & vb. n. Bespattering. ] 1. To soil by spattering; to sprinkle, esp. with dirty water, mud, or anything which will leave foul spots or stains. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To asperse with calumny or reproach. [ 1913 Webster ]

Whom never faction could bespatter. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. compatients, p. pr. of compati. See Compassion. ] Suffering or enduring together. [ Obs. ] Sir G. Buck. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Idiopathic. [ R. ]

pos>n. [ OE. impacience, F. impatience, fr. L. impatientia. ] The quality of being impatient; lack of endurance of pain, suffering, opposition, or delay; eagerness for change, or for something expected; restlessness; chafing of spirit; fretfulness; passion; as, the impatience of a child or an invalid. [ 1913 Webster ]

I then, . . .
Out of my grief and my impatience,
Answered neglectingly. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

With huge impatience he inly swelt
More for great sorrow that he could not pass,
Than for the burning torment which he felt. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Impatience. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

‖prop. n. [ L., impatient. ] (Bot.) A genus of plants, several species of which have very beautiful flowers; -- so called because the elastic capsules burst when touched, and scatter the seeds with considerable force. Called also touch-me-not, jewelweed, and snapweed. Impatiens Balsamina (sometimes called lady's slipper) is the common garden balsam. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ OE. impacient, F. impatient, fr. L. impatiens; pref. im- not + patiens patient. See Patient. ] 1. Not patient; not bearing with composure; intolerant; uneasy; fretful; restless, because of pain, delay, or opposition; eager for change, or for something expected; hasty; passionate; -- often followed by at, for, of, and under. [ 1913 Webster ]

A violent, sudden, and impatient necessity. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

Fame, impatient of extremes, decays
Not more by envy than excess of praise. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

The impatient man will not give himself time to be informed of the matter that lies before him. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

Dryden was poor and impatient of poverty. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Not to be borne; unendurable. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Prompted by, or exhibiting, impatience; as, impatient speeches or replies. Shak.

Syn. -- Restless; uneasy; changeable; hot; eager; fretful; intolerant; passionate. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who is impatient. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In an impatient manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A patient who receives lodging and food, as well as treatment, in a hospital or an infirmary; -- distinguished from outpatient. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. [ Omni- + patient. ] Capable of enduring all things. [ R. ] Carlyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A patient who is outside a hospital, but receives medical aid from it. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A medical patient who receives treatment at a hospital, especially in an emergency room, but is not admitted to stay overnight. Distinguished from inpatient, who is assigned to a room to reside there while being treated. [ PJC ]

a. Patient to excess. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Pattee. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Gr. paqhmatiko`s, fr. pa`qhma a suffering, paqei^n, to suffer. ] Of, pertaining to, or designating, emotion or suffering. [ R. ] Chalmers. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. patheticus, Gr. paqhtiko`s, fr. paqei^n, pa`schein, to suffer: cf. F. pathétique. See Pathos. ] 1. Expressing or showing anger; passionate. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Affecting or moving the tender emotions, esp. pity or grief; full of pathos; as, a pathetic song or story. “Pathetic action.” Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

No theory of the passions can teach a man to be pathetic. E. Porter. [ 1913 Webster ]

Pathetic muscle (Anat.), the superior oblique muscle of the eye. --
Pathetic nerve (Anat.), the fourth cranial, or trochlear, nerve, which supplies the superior oblique, or pathetic, muscle of the eye. --
The pathetic, a style or manner adapted to arouse the tender emotions. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Pathetic. [ R. ] -- Pa*thet"ic*al*ly, adv. -- Pa*thet"ic*al*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. pathétisme. ] See Mesmerism. L. Sunderland. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. patience, fr. L. patientia. See Patient. ] 1. The state or quality of being patient; the power of suffering with fortitude; uncomplaining endurance of evils or wrongs, as toil, pain, poverty, insult, oppression, calamity, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

Strengthened with all might, . . . unto all patience and long-suffering. Col. i. 11. [ 1913 Webster ]

I must have patience to endure the load. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Who hath learned lowliness
From his Lord's cradle, patience from his cross. Keble. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The act or power of calmly or contentedly waiting for something due or hoped for; forbearance. [ 1913 Webster ]

Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Matt. xviii. 29. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Constancy in labor or application; perseverance. [ 1913 Webster ]

He learned with patience, and with meekness taught. Harte. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Sufferance; permission. [ Obs. ] Hooker. [ 1913 Webster ]

They stay upon your patience. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Bot.) A kind of dock (Rumex Patientia), less common in America than in Europe; monk's rhubarb. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Card Playing) Solitaire. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Patience, Resignation. Patience implies the quietness or self-possession of one's own spirit under sufferings, provocations, etc.; resignation implies submission to the will of another. The Stoic may have patience; the Christian should have both patience and resignation. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ F., fr. L. patiens, -entis, p. pr. of pati to suffer. Cf. Pathos, Passion. ] 1. Having the quality of enduring; physically able to suffer or bear. [ 1913 Webster ]

Patient of severest toil and hardship. Bp. Fell. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Undergoing pains, trials, or the like, without murmuring or fretfulness; bearing up with equanimity against trouble; long-suffering. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Constant in pursuit or exertion; persevering; calmly diligent; as, patient endeavor. [ 1913 Webster ]

Whatever I have done is due to patient thought. Sir I. Newton. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Expectant with calmness, or without discontent; not hasty; not overeager; composed. [ 1913 Webster ]

Not patient to expect the turns of fate. Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Forbearing; long-suffering. [ 1913 Webster ]

Be patient toward all men. 1 Thess. v. 14. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who, or that which, is passively affected; a passive recipient. [ 1913 Webster ]

Malice is a passion so impetuous and precipitate that it often involves the agent and the patient. Gov. of Tongue. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A person under medical or surgical treatment; -- correlative to physician or nurse. [ 1913 Webster ]

Like a physician, . . . seeing his patient in a pestilent fever. Sir P. Sidney. [ 1913 Webster ]

In patient, a patient who receives lodging and food, as treatment, in a hospital or an infirmary. --
Out patient, one who receives advice and medicine, or treatment, from an infirmary. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To compose, to calm. [ Obs. ] “Patient yourself, madam.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a patient manner. Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Fitness or appropriateness; striking suitableness; convenience. [ 1913 Webster ]

The description with equal patness may suit both. Barrow. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ ‖ } a. [ F. patté, fem. pattée, fr. patte paw, foot. Cf. Patten. ] (Her.) Narrow at the inner, and very broad at the other, end, or having its arms of that shape; -- said of a cross. See Illust. (8) of Cross. [ Written also paté, patee. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Patamar. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. patin a high-heeled shoe, fr. patte paw, foot. Cf. Panton, Patté. ] 1. A clog or sole of wood, usually supported by an iron ring, worn to raise the feet from the wet or the mud. [ 1913 Webster ]

The patten now supports each frugal dame. Gay. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A stilt. [ Prov. Eng. ] Halliwell. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Wearing pattens. “Some pattened girl.” Jane Austen. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Pattered p. pr. & vb. n. Pattering. ] [ Freq. of pat to strike gently. ] 1. To strike with a quick succession of slight, sharp sounds; as, pattering rain or hail; pattering feet. [ 1913 Webster ]

The stealing shower is scarce to patter heard. Thomson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To mutter; to mumble; as, to patter with the lips. Tyndale. [ In this sense, and in the following, perh. from paternoster. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To talk glibly; to chatter; to harangue. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

I've gone out and pattered to get money. Mayhew. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To spatter; to sprinkle. [ R. ] “And patter the water about the boat.” J. R. Drake. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. [ See Patter, v. i., 2. ] To mutter; as prayers. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ The hooded clouds ] patter their doleful prayers. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

To patter flash, to talk in thieves' cant. [ Slang ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A quick succession of slight sounds; as, the patter of rain; the patter of little feet. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Glib and rapid speech; a voluble harangue. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The cant of a class; patois; as, thieves's patter; gypsies' patter. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. The language or oratory of a street peddler, conjurer, or the like, hence, glib talk; a voluble harangue; mere talk; chatter; also, specif., rapid speech, esp. as sometimes introduced in songs. [ Cant or Colloq. ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. One who patters, or talks glibly; specifically, a street peddler. [ Cant, Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. patron, F. patron, a patron, also, a pattern. See Patron. ] 1. Anything proposed for imitation; an archetype; an exemplar; that which is to be, or is worthy to be, copied or imitated; as, a pattern of a machine. [ 1913 Webster ]

I will be the pattern of all patience. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A part showing the figure or quality of the whole; a specimen; a sample; an example; an instance. [ 1913 Webster ]

He compares the pattern with the whole piece. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Stuff sufficient for a garment; as, a dress pattern. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Figure or style of decoration; design; as, wall paper of a beautiful pattern. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Something made after a model; a copy. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

The patterns of things in the heavens. Heb. ix. 23. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. Anything cut or formed to serve as a guide to cutting or forming objects; as, a dressmaker's pattern. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (Founding) A full-sized model around which a mold of sand is made, to receive the melted metal. It is usually made of wood and in several parts, so as to be removed from the mold without injuring it. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. a recognizable characteristic relationship or set of relationships between the members of any set of objects or actions, or the properties of the members; also, the set having a definable relationship between its members. [ PJC ]

Various collections of objects or markings are spoken of as a pattern. Thus: the distribution of bomb or shell impacts on a target area, or of bullet holes in a target; a set of traits or actions that appear to be consistent throughout the members of a group or over time within a group, as behavioral pattern, traffic pattern, dress pattern; the wave pattern for a spoken word; the pattern of intensities in a spectrum; a grammatical pattern. [ PJC ]

9. (Gun.) A diagram showing the distribution of the pellets of a shotgun on a vertical target perpendicular to the plane of fire. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

10. the recommended flight path for an airplane to follow as it approaches an airport for a landing. Same as landing pattern. [ PJC ]

11. an image or diagram containing lines, usually horizontal, vertical, and diagonal, sometimes of varying widths, used to test the resolution of an optical instrument or the accuracy of reproduction of image copying or transmission equipment. Same as test pattern. [ PJC ]

pattern box,
pattern chain, or
pattern cylinder (Figure Weaving), devices, in a loom, for presenting several shuttles to the picker in the proper succession for forming the figure. --
Pattern card. (a) A set of samples on a card. (b) (Weaving) One of the perforated cards in a Jacquard apparatus. --
Pattern reader, one who arranges textile patterns. --
Pattern wheel (Horology), a count-wheel. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Patterned p. pr. & vb. n. Patterning. ] 1. To make or design (anything) by, from, or after, something that serves as a pattern; to copy; to model; to imitate. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ A temple ] patterned from that which Adam reared in Paradise. Sir T. Herbert. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To serve as an example for; also, to parallel. [ 1913 Webster ]

To pattern after, to imitate; to follow. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. Having describable patterns, especially patterns of colors. [ Narrower terms: banded, blotched, blotchy, splotched, brindled, brindle, brinded, tabby, burled, checked, checkered, dappled, mottled, dotted, flecked, specked, speckled, stippled, figured, floral, flowered, laced, marbled, marbleized, moire, watered, pinstriped, pinstripe(prenominal), slashed, streaked, spotted, sprigged, streaked, streaky, striped, stripy, tessellated, veined, venose ] plain, solid [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

adj. 1. resembling a pattern or shape or outline. a gigantic black and patternlike figure against the eastern sky [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. Someone who makes patterns (as for sewing or carpentery or metalworking). [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ See pattern. ] (Computers) A technique in automated data analysis, usually performed on a computer, by which a group of characteristic properties of an unknown object is compared with the comparable groups of characteristics of a set of known objects, to discover the idenity or proper classification of the unknown object. There are two major types of pattern matching, statistical pattern matching and syntactic pattern matching. In statistical pattern matching, the criteria used to recognize identity or class membership vary, but in general some combination of the differences in the groups of characteristics of known and unknown objects are considered to be a measure of the difference ("distance") between them, and the closest known object or objects are viewed as presenting the most likely identity or class for the unknown object. In syntactic pattern matching, a set of known patterns, e.g. as in the possible order of parts of speech in a language, is defined, and the unknown pattern is compared to find that known pattern or patterns which matches the unknown exactly. In general, statistical pattern matching is used where properties of objects with continuous values are being compared, and syntactic pattern matching where a complex arrangement of at least two different objects may be built by application of a set of rules (a "grammar") for combining the objects in a specified order. Examples of the latter are natural and formal languages. [ PJC ]

adv. With, or with the sound of, alternating light beats; as, his heart went pitter-patter. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. A sound like that of alternating light beats. Also, a pattering of words. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ L. spatha, Gr. &unr_;: cf. F. spathe. See Spade for digging. ] (Bot.) A special involucre formed of one leaf and inclosing a spadix, as in aroid plants and palms. See the Note under Bract, and Illust. of Spadix. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The name is also given to the several-leaved involucre of the iris and other similar plants. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Bot.) Having a spathe or calyx like a sheath. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Spattered p. pr. & vb. n. Spattering. ] [ From the root of spit salvia. ] 1. To sprinkle with a liquid or with any wet substance, as water, mud, or the like; to make wet of foul spots upon by sprinkling; as, to spatter a coat; to spatter the floor; to spatter boots with mud. [ 1913 Webster ]

Upon any occasion he is to be spattered over with the blood of his people. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To distribute by sprinkling; to sprinkle around; as, to spatter blood. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Fig.: To injure by aspersion; to defame; to soil; also, to throw out in a defamatory manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To throw something out of the mouth in a scattering manner; to sputter. [ 1913 Webster ]

That mind must needs be irrecoverably depraved, which, . . . tasting but once of one just deed, spatters at it, and abhors the relish ever after. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Wearing spatterdashes. [ Colloq. ] Thackeray. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. pl. [ Spatter + dash. ] Coverings for the legs, to protect them from water and mud; long gaiters. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) The common yellow water lily (Nuphar advena). [ 1913 Webster ]