N UD 



510 



N UM 



plaint of ike disseizin in terms of direct 

 averment, whereupon the sheriff is com- 

 manded to rcseize the land and chattels 

 thereon, and keep the same in custody 

 till the arrival of the justices of assize. 

 In literature, a novel is a fictitious tale, or 

 narrative in prose, generally intended to 

 exhibit the operations of the passions, 

 and particularly of love. Historical novels 

 are usually termed romances. See RO- 

 MANCE. 



NOVEM'BER, from notem, nine. The 

 ninth month of the ancient Roman year, 

 which began with March ; but now the 

 eleventh month of the year. It has 30 days. 



NOVENN.V'I.IA, Lat. nine, and year. Fes- 

 tivals in honour of the dead, held every 

 nine years. . 



NO'VENSILES. Anciently, tne generic 

 name of deified heroes and demigods. 



NOV'ICE, Fr. from Lat. nocitius, from 

 tiot-tu, new. 1. A person not yet skilled 

 in an art or profession into which he has 



entered. 2. In mmuuttritt, one who 



has not completed the novitiate. 



Novi HO.M'INES. Among the Romans, 

 sneh persons as by their personal merit 

 alone had raised themselves to curule 

 dignities. 



NOVI'TIATE. In monasteries, a year or 

 other prescribed time of probation for the 

 trial of a novice (nacitiiu), to determine 

 whether he has the requisite qualities for 

 living up to the rules to which his vows 

 bind him. 



NOY'ADES, Fr. noyer. A peculiar pun- 

 ishment practised in the first French Re- 

 volution, which consisted in launching 

 the victims in a boat, out of the bottom 

 of which a plug could be withdrawn. 



NOY'AU (Fr.). A delightful liqueur fla- 

 voured with bitter almonds, or the ker- 

 nels of peach stones, and containing 

 prussic acid. 



NUBECULE, Lat. nubecula, a little cloud. 

 A disease of the eye, in which, objects 

 appear as through a mist. 



Nt'cLEus.Lat. a kernel, a ntire, from the 

 nut. 1. Anything about which matter is 

 gathered or" conglobated. 2. In astro- 

 nomy, the solid part of a comet, as distin- 

 guished from its nebulosity. 



NUDE COMPACT, ) Xvdum pactum. A 



NUDE CONTRACT. J promise made with- 

 out any consideration, and therefore not 

 valid. 



NO'DIBRAXCHI.TA. An order of Mol- 

 lusca, the second of the class Gasteropoda, 

 so named from nudus, naked, and bron- 

 chia, their branchiaj being exposed on 

 borne part of the back. The genera are 

 all marine, the individuals often swim- 

 ming in a reversed position with the foot 

 on the surface, concave like a bateau, 

 and employing the margin of their mantle 

 fcnd their tentacula as oars. 



NccirjGi>A'i.iA Lat. nudus, and pes, foot. 



An ancient religious rite, on account of 

 some public calamity, in which the vo- 

 taries appeared barefooted. 



NUL'LAH. A hydrographic term in In- 

 dia, for a natural canal or small branch of 

 a river. 



NUL'LIPORES, Lat. nttllus, none, and po- 

 rus, a pore. Plants which have no visible 

 pores on their surface. 



NUL TIET RECORD. The replication 

 which the plaintiff makes to the defend- 

 ant, when the latter pleads a matter of 

 record in bar of the action, and it is neces- 

 sary to deny the existence of such record. 



NUM'BER. 1. In its extended significa- 

 tion, it refers to every abstract quantity 

 that can be made the subject of arithme- 

 tical computation ; but in a more limited 

 sense, it means only several things of the 

 same kind, and may be defined a multi- 

 tude of units. Numbers of this latter sort 

 are termed integral, and are distinguished 

 into various classes, as absolute, abstract, 

 abundant, amicable, cardinal, circular, 

 composite, concrete, fisrurate, homoge- 

 neal, irrational, ordinal, perfect, poly- 

 gonal, prime, rational, &c., all of which 

 are distinguished from, fractional numbers. 

 See FRACTION. The number of direction it 

 one of the 35 numbers between the Easter 

 limits, or between the earliest and latest 

 days on which Easter can fall, viz., 22nd 

 March and 25th April; and is so called 

 because it serves as a direction for finding 

 Easter for any year, being the number 

 which expresses how many days after the 

 21st March Easter-day fails. For gal-den 

 number, see GOLDEN NUMBER and CvcLf. 

 2. In grammar, a modification (mark- 

 ing singular and plural] , of nouns, verb*, 

 &c., to accommodate them to the variety 

 of their objects, considered with regard to 

 number. 



NUMBERS. Poetical numbers are those 

 measures of order and quantity of sylla- 

 bles which constitute feet, as distinguished 

 from rhetorical numbers, where the har- 

 mony is measured only by the agreeable 

 effects produced upon the ear by the ca- 

 dence of the articulations. 



NUME'NIA, vtes and f&w, month. Gre- 

 cian festivals celebrated monthly in 

 honour of all the gods of antiquity. 



NU'MERAL. Pertaining to number; ex- 

 pressing number; standing as a substi- 

 tute for figures, as 1. Numeral letters, the 

 Roman capital letters, as I. for 1, X. for 

 10, L, for 50, C. for 100, D. for 500, M. for 



1000. 2. Numeral characters, these are 



1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0. They were 

 brought to Europe by the Arabians, who 

 received them from India, according to 

 some. 3. Numeral algelira is that where- 

 in numbers are. employed, in contradis- 

 tinction to literal alytbra, where the let- 

 ters of the alphabet only are employed ts 

 represent quantities. 





