element 
These [good life and good works] are the two elements, 
and he which is elemented from these hath the complexion 
of a good man, and a lit friend. Donne, Letters, xxx. 
elemental (el-e-men'tal), ft. and n. [= Sp. Pg. 
elemental; as element -f- -al.~] I. a. 1. Of, per- 
taining to, or of the nature of an element or 
elements. 
In and near the photosphere, or underneath it, matter 
must be in its most elemental state. 
C. A. Young, The Sun, p. 295. 
There is spectroscopic evidence which seems to show 
that, starting with a mass of solid elemental matter, such 
mass of matter is continually broken up as the tempera- 
ture is raised. J. N. Lockyer, Spect. Anal., p. 126. 
2. Pertaining or relating to first principles; 
simple; elementary. [Obsolete or archaic.] 
Some elemental knowledge, I suppose, they [the druids] 
had ; but I can scarcely be persuaded that their learning 
was either deep or extensive. 
Burke, Abridg. of Eng. Hist., i. 2. 
3. Of or pertaining to the elements of the mate- 
rial world: more especially used of the mobile 
elements, fire, air, and water, with reference to 
their violent or destructive action. See ele- 
ment, 2 and 3. 
If dusky spots are vary'd on his brow, 
And streak'd with red, a troubled colour show; 
That sullen mixture shall at once declare 
Winds, rain, and storms, and elemental war. 
Drydeii, tr. of Virgil's Georgics. 
But all subsists by elemental strife ; 
And passions are the elements of life. 
Pope, Essay on Man, i. 1B9. 
Elemental law of thought, a first principle ; a funda- 
mental belief. 
II. n. A spirit of the elements; a nature- 
spirit. See I., 3, and element, 2 and 3. 
elementalism (el-e-men'tal-izm), n. [< ele- 
mental + -ism.'] Dhe theory which identifies 
iihe divinities of the ancients with the elemen- 
tal powers. Gladstone. 
elementally (el"e-men-tari-ti), n. [(elemen- 
tal + -ity.~] The state of feeing elemental or 
elementary. 
By this I hope the eletnentality (that is, the universality) 
if detraction, or disparagement, ... is out of dispute. 
Whitlock, Manners of Eng. People, p. 456. 
elementally (el-e-men'tal-i), adv. In an ele- 
mental manner; with reference to or as re- 
gards elements. 
Those words taken circumscriptly, without regard to any 
precedent law of Moses, are as much against plain equity 
... as those words of " Take, eat, this is my body, ele- 
mentally understood, are against nature and sense. 
Christian Religion's Appeal, xv. (Ord MS.). 
Legislate as much as you please, you cannot abolish the 
fact of the sexes. Constituency, elementally the same, 
Man and Woman are organized on different bases. Like 
the stars, they differ in their glory. 
G. D. Boardman, Creative Week, p. 232. 
elementart (el-e-men'tar), a. [< L. elementa- 
rius : see elementary.] Elementary. 
What thyng occasioned the showres of rayne 
Of fyre elementar in his supreme spore. 
Skelton, Garland of Laurel. 
elementariness (el-e-men'ta-ri-nes), n. The 
state of being elementary. 
elementarityt (el"e-men-tar'i-ti), n. [< elemen- 
tary + -%.] Elementariness. 
For though Moses have left no mention of minerals, nor 
made any other description then sutes unto the apparent 
and visible creation, yet is there unquestionably a very 
1874 
It is probable that before the time of Aristotle there were 
elementary treatises of geometry which are now lost. 
/.v<''/, Inquiry into Human Mind. 
Such a pedantick abuse of elementary principles as would 
have disgraced boys at school. Burke, Army Estimates. 
3. Treating of elements; collecting, digesting, 
or explaining principles : as, an elementarywrit- 
er. Elementary analysis, in chein., the estimation of 
the amounts of the elements which together form a com- 
pound body. Elementary angles, in crystal., angles be- 
tween particular faces characteristic of particular miner- 
als. Elementary body. See element, 3. Elementary 
particles of Zimmermann. See blwid-platf. Elemen- 
tary proposition, a self-evident and indemonstrable 
proposition. Elementary substances. See element, 3. 
elementation (el"e-men-ta'shon), n. [< element, 
))., + -ation.] Instruction in elements or first 
principles. Coleridge. [Bare.] 
elementisht (el-e-men'tish), a. [< element + 
-ish.] Elemental; elementary. 
If you mean of many natures conspiring together, as in 
a popular government, to establish this fair estate, as if 
the elementish and ethereal parts should in their town- 
house set down the bounds of each one's office, then con- 
sider what follows: that there must needs have been awis- 
dom which made them concur. Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, iii. 
elementoid (el-e-men'toid), a. [< L. elemen- 
tnm + Gr. eWof, form.] Like an element ; hav- 
ing the appearance of a simple substance : as, 
compounds which have an elementoid nature, 
and perform elemental functions. 
elemi (el'e-mi), n. [= F. elemi = Sp. elemi = 
Pg. It. elemi; of Eastern, said to be of Ar., ori- 
gin.] A name of fragrant resins of various 
kinds, all of them probably the product of trees 
belonging to the natural order Burseracea;. The 
Oriental or African elemi of the older writers is an exu- 
dation from BoHwellia Freereana, a tree found in the 
region south of the gulf of Aden. It is used in the East 
for chewing, like mastic. The elemi of pharmacy comes 
chiefly from Manila, and is the productof Canarium com- 
mtme. It is a stimulant resin, and is used in plasters and 
ointments. Other sorts are Mexican or Vera Cruz elemi, 
obtained from species of Bursera; Brazilian elemi, from 
various species of Protium (Idea) ; and Mauritius elemi, 
from Caiiariinn paniculatum. 
elemin (el'e-min), n. [< elemi + - 2 .] The 
crystallizable portion of elemi. 
elench (e-lengk'), . [< L. elencJius, < Gr. Key- 
Xof, an argument of disproof or refutation, a 
cross-examining, < cteyxuv, disgrace, put to 
shame, cross-examine for the purpose of re- 
futing, put to the proof, confute, refute.] In 
logic, an argumentation concluding the falsity 
of something maintained ; a refutation ; a con- 
futation; also, a false refutation; a sophism. 
Also elenchus. 
Reprehension or elench is a syllogism which gathereth 
a conclusion contrary to the assertion of the respondent. 
Blundemlle (1609). 
The sophistical elenchus or refutation, being a delusive 
semblance of refutation which imposes on ordinary men 
and induces them to accept it as real, cannot be properly 
understood without the theory of elenchus in general; 
nor cau this last be understood without the entire theory 
of the syllogism, since the elenchus is only one variety of 
syllogism. The elenchus is a syllogism with a conclusion 
contradictory to or refutative of some enunciated thesis 
or proposition. Accordingly we must understand the 
conditions of a good and valid syllogism before we study 
those of a valid elenchus ; these last, again, must be un- 
derstood, before we enter on the distinctive attributes of 
the pseudo-eteiic/is the sophistical, invalid, or sham, 
refutation. Grote. 
Ignorance Of the elench. See fallacy of irrelevant con- 
clusion, under fallacy. 
large classis of creatures In the earth far above the con- elenchlc, elenchical (e-leng'kik, -ki-kal), a. 
ditiou of elementanty. Sir T. Brmme, Vulg. Err., ii 1. [< elench + -ie, -ical.~] Pertaining to or of the 
elementary (el-e-men'ta-ri), a. [= D. elemen- 
tair = G. elementar (in comp.), also elementa- 
risch = Dan. elemental = Sw. elementar (D. 
Dan. Sw. after F.) (Dan. Sw. also elementar in 
comp.) = F. elementaire = Pr. Sp. Pg. elemen- 
tar, Pg. also elementario = It. elementare, ele- 
mentario, < L. clementarius, belonging to the 
elements or rudiments, < elementum, element, 
rudiment: see element.'] 1. Pertaining to or 
of the nature of an element or elements; pri- 
mary; simple; uncompoimded ; incomplex: as, 
an elementary substance. 
They [chemists] have found it impossible to obtain from 
oxygen anything but oxygen, or from hydrogen anything 
but hydrogen ; and, in the present state of our knowledge, 
these bodies are consequently regarded as elementary or 
simple substances. Huxley, Physiography, p. 105. 
Without ritual, religion may exist in its elewentani 
state, and tins elementary state of religion is what may be 
described as habitual and permanent admiration. 
J. R. Seeley, Nat. Religion, p. 70. 
The primitive homestead, . . . where all things were 
elementary and of the plainest cast. 
Stedman, Poets of America, p. 101. 
2. Initial; rudimental; containing, teaching, 
or discussing first principles, rules, or rudi- 
ments: as, an elementary treatise or disquisi- 
tion; elementary education ; elementary schools. 
nature of an elench; refuting; confutative; 
sophistical. Bailey, 1776. 
elenchically (e-leng'ki-kal-i), adv. By means 
of an elench. Imp. Diet" 
elenchizet (e-leng'klz), v. i. [< Gr. eUyxetv, 
confute, + -ize.~] To dispute ; refute. 
Tip. Hear him problematize. 
Pru. Bless us, what's that ? 
Tip. Or syllogize, elenchize. B. Jonsvn, New Inn, ii. 2. 
elenchtict, elenchticalt, a. Erroneous forms 
of elenctic, elenclical. 
elenchus (e-leng'kus), n. 1. Same as elench. 
2. [cap.] [NL.] (a) A genus of gastropods. 
Humphreys, 1797. (6) A genus of Strepsiptera. 
Curtis, 1831. 
elenctict, elencticalt (-lengk'tik, -ti-kal), a. 
fAlso written, erroneously, elenchtic, -al,<. Gr. 
e>.eyKTtK6f, refutative, < f/Uy/cro?, verbal adj. of 
iMyXEiv, refute, confute: see elench.'] Same 
as elenchic. 
elenge, ellinge, a. [Now only dial.; < ME. 
dengc, also, less often, elynge, eling ; perhaps an 
alteration, with suffix -ing, of AS. ellende, elc- 
lainde, with equiv. elelendisc,_ ME. elelendis, hele- 
lendisse, helendis, -isse, foreign, strange, living 
in a foreign land (elelnnd, a foreign land), = 
OS. elilcndi = D. ellendig = OHG. clilenti, for- 
elephant 
eign, living in a foreign land, MHG. ellende, 
the same, also unhappy, wretched, G. clend, 
unhappy, wretched, = Dan. elcndig, = Sw. elfin- 
dig, unhappy, wretched; < AS. ele-, el-, other 
(see else and alien}, -f- land, land. The same 
development of sense appears in wretched, ult. 
< AS. wrecca, an outcast, exile.] Cheerless; 
wretched; miserable; unhappy. 
Heuy-chered I gede, and elynye in herte. 
Piers Plowman (B), xx. 2. 
Poverte is this, although it seme elenge, 
Possessioun that no wight wil chalenge. 
Chaucer, Wife of Bath's Tale, 1. 344. 
elengelyt, adr. [ME., also elengelich; < elenge 
+ -Ty' 2 .] Cheerlessly; miserably. 
Alisaundre that al wan elengelich ended. 
Piers Plowman (B), xii. 45. 
elengenesset, ellengnesst, n. [Early mod. E. el- 
lengness; < ME. ellengenesse."] Sorrow; trouble. 
Rom. of the Base. 
Eleocharis (el-e-ok'a-ris), n. [NL., prop. *He- 
leocharis, < Gr. k'Aog (gen. t/Uo?), low ground by 
rivers, marsh-meadows, + ;^a<'/>v, rejoice, > %a- 
ptf, favor, delight.] A genus of cyperaceous 
plants, or about 80 species, growing in wet 
places, and distributed over all tropical and 
temperate regions. They are characterized by terete 
or angular culms closely sheathed at the base, and bear- 
ing a naked, solitary terminal head of closely imbricated 
scales. There are about 20 North American species. Com- 
monly known as spike-rush. 
Eleotragus (el-e-ot'ra-gus), n. [NL. (J. E. 
Gray, 1846), prop. 'Heleotragus, < Gr. f/"of (gen. 
eAeof), a marsh, + Tpayof, a goat.] A genus of 
antelopes, containing such as the riet-bok or 
reed-buck of South Africa, E. arundinaceus. 
Eleotridinse (el-e-ot-ri-di'ne), . pi. [NL., < 
Eleotris (-rid-) + -inie.~\ A subfamily of gobioid 
fishes closely resembling the Gobiinw, but with 
separated ventral fins. Also Eleotrintt. 
Eleotris (e-le'o-tris), . [NL. (Gronovius).] A 
genus of fishes, typical of the subfamily Eleo- 
tridince. 
elephant (el'e-fant), n. [< ME. elefaunt, eli- 
fant, elifauntj earlier and more commonly oli- 
fant, olifaunt, olefawnt, olyfaunt, olifont, olifunt 
(rarely, in later ME., spelled with ph, as in L.), 
< OF. olifant, also elifant, F. elephant = Pr. 
elephant = Sp. elefante = Pg. elefante, elephante 
= It. elefante = AS. elpend, elp, yip, an ele- 
phant (see aljA), = MD. D. elefant (also MD. 
olefant, olifant, D. olifant, < OF.) = MLG. ele- 
fant, elepant, also elpender, ohant = OHG. ela- 
fant, elfant, helfant, MHG. elefant, elfant, el- 
fent, Gr. elefant, elephant = Dan. Sw. elefant 
(cf. Goth, ulbandus = OHG. olbanta, olbenta, 
olbanda, MHG. olbende, olbent = AS. olfend, a 
camel: see camel), < L. elephas, clephans (ele- 
phant-), also elephantus, and ML. elefantus, < 
Gr. ^^of (fAc^avr-), an elephant (first in He- 
rodotus), ivory (first in Homer and Hesiod) ; 
perhaps < Heb. eleph, an ox (cf. Lucabos, Lu- 
canian ox, the older L. name : see alpha) ; but 
some compare Heb. ibdh, Skt. ibhas, an ele- 
phant, and L. ebur, ivory : see ivory. The Slav. 
and Oriental names are different : OBulg. slo- 
u = Bohem. slon = Pol. slon' = Russ. slonu 
(> Lith. slanas), elephant ; Turk. AT. fil. Hind. 
fil, pil, < Pers. pil, elephant ; Hind, hatlii, lidti, 
< Skt. hastin, elephant, < hasta, hand, trunk.] 
1 . A five-toed proboscidian mammal, of the ge- 
nus Eleplias, constituting a subfamily, EleplMlt- 
Indian Elephant ( Elephas indicia). 
time, and comprehending two living species, 
namely, E/cjilms indieus and Elephas (Loxodon) 
africanus. The former inhabits India, and is character- 
ized by a concave high forehead, small ears, and compara- 
tively small tusks ; the latter is found in Africa, and lias 
a convex forehead, great flapping ears, and large tusks. 
The tusks occur in both sexes, curving upward from the 
extremity of the upper jaw. The nose is prolonged into 
a cylindrical trunk or proboscis, at the extremity of which 
the nostrils open. The trunk is extremely flexible and 
highly sensitive, and terminates in a linger-like prehensile 
