See Also: khilat(dictionary)

positive (iou) and khilat (iou)


positive (iou)



positive adjective & noun. ME.
[Old & mod. French positif, -ive or Latin positivus, from posit-: see POSIT, -IVE.]
A. adjective.
I.
Of law or justice: formally laid down or imposed; proceeding from enactment or custom; conventional. Opp. natural. ME.
Explicitly laid down; admitting no question; explicit, express, definite, precise; emphatic. L16.
M. W. Montagu Positive orders oblige us to go tomorrow. E. A. Freeman A strong presumption, though it does not reach positive proof.
Confident in opinion or assertion; convinced, assured, very sure; occas. overconfident, cocksure, dogmatic. M17.
M. E. Braddon Are you sure?..Pretty positive. J. Buchan Neither was any kind of foreigner; on this my young friend was positive. E. Caldwell Annette was positive that Doan was truly in love with her.
II.
Grammar. Designating the primary degree of an adjective or adverb, expressing simple quality; not comparative or superlative. LME.
a. Having no relation to or comparison with Other things; not relative; absolute, unconditional, unqualified. E17.
R. Bradley Such as feed upon raw Flesh are positive in their Ferocity.
b. That is absolutely what is expressed by the noun; nothing less than, downright, out-and-out. colloq. E19.
E. Waugh Her herbaceous borders were a positive eye-sore. F. Raphael Byron had shipped out a positive library, including fifty volumes of Parliamentary debates.
c. Functioning for the special purpose required; having or being a well-defined and effective action. E20.
Scientific American Instead of depending on splash lubrication alone..positive oil feeds are led to..the crankshaft bearings. Times The steering, which used to be somewhat indefinite, is now..pleasantly positive in action.
III. Opp. NEGATIVE adjective II.
Consisting in, characterized by, or expressing the presence or possession of features or qualities, rather than their absence or lack; of an affirmative Nature. Also, consisting in or characterized by constructive action or attitudes. LME.
T. Hardy The soundlessness impressed her as a positive entity rather than as the mere negation of noise. R. Church It was this capacity for enjoyment that made her so positive a character. E. Roosevelt This country should make a definite and positive effort to preserve the peace. Times All the positive rugby after the interval came from Ireland. M. Coren The Incredulity of Father Brown appeared, to positive reviews and a grateful readership.
b. Of evidence, an experimental result, etc.: tending to support the hypothesis which the experiment was designed to test. Of a test or an experiment, or the subject of one: producing such a result (freq. postpositive in comb.). L19.
rhesus positive: see RHESUS 2.
British Medical Journal A..greater proportion of married men were positive for hepatitis B virus.
Of a quantity: greater than zero, to be added, not negative. E18.
C. Hutton When a quantity is found without a sign, it is understood to be positive.
b. Reckoned, situated, or tending in a direction opposite to the negative and taken as the direction of increase or progress. L19.
Orig., designating that form of electricity produced by rubbing glass with silk (also called vitreous). Now, designating electric charge, potential, etc., having the same polarity as that electrode of a voltaic cell from which the current is held to flow (and towards which the actual flow of electrons occurs); possessing such charge. M18.
b. Designating a north-seeking pole of a magnet; having the polarity of the earth's south pole. M19.
Optics. Of, pertaining to, or displaying birefringence in which the refractive index of the extraordinary ray is greater than that of the ordinary ray. M19.
Of a visual image, esp. a photograph: showing the lights and shades (and colour values) true to the original. M19.
Of, pertaining to, or designating a copy or likeness of an object with the same relief as that of the original, as opp. the reverse relief of a mould. E20.
IV.
Chiefly Philosophy. Dealing only with matters of fact and experience; practical, realistic; not speculative. L16.
Actual, real; concrete. rare. M19.
E. B. Browning The skies themselves looked low and positive As almost you could touch them.
V.
Adapted to be placed or set down. Only in positive organ below. E18.
Special collocations & comb.: positive column Physics a luminous region extending from near the anode of a low-pressure discharge tube and producing most of the light in a conventional neon tube. positive definite adjectival phr. (Math.) positive in all cases; (of a square matrix) having all its eigenvalues positive. positive discrimination the practice of making distinctions in favour of groups considered to be disadvantaged or underprivileged, esp. in the allocation of resources and opportunities; also called reverse discrimination. positive electron = POSITRON. positive eugenics the practice of encouraging the birth of children to parents having qualities considered desirable to the community. positive FEEDBACK. positive-going adjective increasing in magnitude in the direction of positive polarity; becoming less negative or more positive. positive logic circuit logic in which the larger or most positive signal is taken as representing 1 and the smaller signal 0. positive organ a movable church organ which has to be placed on a stand or on the floor for playing. positive prescription: see PRESCRIPTION 1a. positive pressure Medicine pressure greater than that of the atmosphere, used to force air or oxygen into the lungs to assist respiration or to treat hypoxia. positive rays Physics = canal rays s.v. CANAL noun. positive reinforcement Psychology (reinforcement achieved by) a pleasurable or satisfying stimulus provided after a desired response to increase the probability of its repetition. positive sign = PLUS noun 1. positive thinking the practice or result of concentrating one's mind on the good and constructive aspects of a matter so as to eliminate destructive attitudes and emotions. positive transfer the transfer of effects from the learning of one skill that facilitate the learning of another. positive transference Psychoanalysis transference in which the feelings involved are of a positive or affectionate Nature. positive vetting the practice or an instance of making exhaustive inquiries into the background and character of a candidate for any post in the (British) Civil Service which involves access to secret material.
b. noun.
Grammar. (An adjective or adverb in) the positive degree. M16.
A thing having actual existence or able to be affirmed; a reality. E17.
Something which arbitrarily or absolutely prescribes or determines. L17-M18.
ellipt. A positive quantity, impression, etc.; spec. (a) the positive electrode of a voltaic cell or battery; (b) a positive photographic image. E18.
positively adverb (a) definitely, expressly, explicitly; absolutely, simply; (b) affirmatively; in respect of what is, rather than what is not; constructively; (c) actually, really; in truth, truly; colloq. yes, indeed; (d) with positive electricity; in the direction taken as positive: LME.
positiveness noun M17.
posi'tivity noun M17.

khilat (iou)



khilat noun. L17.
[Urdu, Persian ilat, from Arab. ila(t).]
Hist. In India etc.: a set of clothes presented by a person of rank as a mark of distinction; transf. any handsome present made by an acknowledged superior.