infection 
(&) That by which disease is or may be communicated ; an 
3080 
inference 
Same as infeudathm. 
The essential feature of malignancy was due not to in- infeodationt, 
etlrenem, but to the indefinitely sustained activity of j n fpofft v t A 
Finding that the sickness had been ceased at Christo- 
N. Y. Med. Jour., XL. 306. 
phers three months before they came forth, so as there . f j ,: t,,,,,i/ ,, ; n fpl<' llr ,rl1 n K ME 
could be no danger of infection in their persons, they gave mteCUntt (m-le-Kuntt or m-ieK Una;, a. \\ mji. 
infeeunde = P. wfecond = Sp. Pg. tnfecundo = 
It. infecondo, < L. infecundus, unfruitful, < in- 
them liberty to continue on shore. 
Winthrop, Hist New England, II. 381. 
3. Ill gram., a modification of a vowel-sound prv. , . 
by another following, whereby the first takes fecund; not bearing; unfruitful; barren, 
on the sound of the second: applied to such 
modification in Celtic speech. Windisch, Irish 
Gram, (trans.). 
about; lead forward or advance ; adduce. 
One day inferred that foile 
Whereof so many yeares of yore were free. 
Fesanntes up to bringe is thus to doo : 
Take noon but of oon yere ; for, infeeunde 
Are olde. 
Palladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.X p. 25. 
a F= F infectieux 
as wieuuv j n , T -,.., 1. Communicable by infecundity (in-fe-kun'di-ti) . [= F infe- 
infectionj easily diffused or spread from per- ^^~^^^^^^^^^. 
son to person or from place toplace, as a disease, 
a moral influence, or a mental condition : spe- 
cifically applied to diseases which are capable 
of being communicated from one to another, or 
which pervade certain places, attacking per- 
sons there, independently of any contact with 
those already sick. Infectious diseases include 
contagious and miasmatic diseases. 
In a house 
Where the infectious pestilence did reign. 
Shalt., E. and J., v. 2. 
Grief as well as joy is infection*. Kames. 
Infectious horrour ran from face to face, 
Arid pale despair. 
Armstrong, Art of Preserving Health. 
His gayety was so irresistible and so infectious that it 
carried everything before it. 
Lady Holland, in Sydney Smith, iv. 
= It. infecondiiA, < L. infecundita(t-)s, unfruit- 
fulness, < infecundus, unfruitful: see infecund.'] 
The state of being infecund ; absence of fecun- 
dity; unfruitfulness ; barrenness. 
Such a state of original promiscuity as that which Mc- 
Lennan and Morgan postulate tends nowadays to a patho- 
logical condition very unfavourable to fecundity ; and in- 
fecundily, amid perpetually belligerent savages, implies 
weakness and ultimate destruction. 
Maine, Early Law and Custom, p. 205. 
infecnndoust (in-fe-kun'dus), a. [< L. infe- 
cundus, unfruitful: 'see infecund."] Unfruitful; 
infecund. 
That the Aristotelian physiology cannot boast itself the 
proper author of any one invention, is pregnant evidence 
of its infecundou* deficiency. 
Qlanville, Vanity of Dogmatizing, xix. 
infeeblet (in-fe'bl), v. t. An obsolete form of 
enfeeble. 
2. Capable of communicating infection; that jafeftment (in-feft'ment), n. [< iiifeft, pp. of 
infects, taints, or corrupts; contaminating : as, i(( , .- f -V + _,<,,-, In Scof ^ f \$* old 
infectious clothing ; infectious air ; an infectious '' J _$_- 8vmbo li ca l nossession of heri- 
infcctious clotli 
vice. 
Which haue made all the worlde druncken and mad 
with her poyson and infectious drincke. 
J. Udatt, On Rev. xviii. 
Thy flatteries are infectious, and I'll flee thee 
As I would do a leper. 
Fletcher, Spanish Curate, iv. 1. 
It [the court] is necessary for the polishing of manners, 
. . . but it is infectious even to the best morals to live al- 
ways in it. Dryden, Ded. of Virgil's Georgics. 
Every sewage contamination which chemistry can trace 
ought, prima facie, to be held to include the possibility of 
iitfectiowi properties. 
E. Fnmldand, Exper. in Chem., p. 611. 
3. In law, capable of contaminating with ille- 
gality; exposing to seizure or forfeiture. 
Contraband articles are said to be of an infectious na- 
ture. Kent. 
*=Syn. 1. Catching, communicable. 2. Contaminating, infelicitous (in-fe-lis'i-tus), a. [< t- 3 4- felici- 
poisoning, defiling totts.] 1. Not felicitous, happy, or fortunate ; 
infectiously (m-fek'shus-h), adv. In an mfec- u^py. agj an infelicitous marriage. 2. Un- 
skilful; inapt; inappropriate; ill-timed: as, an 
infelicitous expression. 
v In an infec- 
tious manner ; by infection. 
The will dotes that is inclinable 
To what infectiously itself affects, 
Without some image of the affected merit. 
Shak., T. and C., ii. 2. 
infectiousness (in-fek'shus-nes), n. The qual- 
ity of being infectious: as, the infectiousness of 
a disease, of an evil example, or of mirth. 
Sometimes the plague ceases, or at least very notably 
abates of its infectiousness and malignity. 
Boyle, Works, V. 65. 
infective (in-fek'tiv), n. [< ME. infectif, < OF. 
infectif = Sp. infectivo = It. infettivo, (. L. infec- 
ticus, serving to dye (in neut. pi. as noun, dye- 
stuffs)^ infectus, pp. of inficere, dye, infect : see 
infect."] If. Of a nature to infect or affect inju- 
riously; injurious. 
Whenne it is uppe and hath fertilitee, 
Turne it efte in, it doungeth best the vynes, 
All other dounge is infectif of wynes. 
Palladius, Hushondrie (E. E. T. S.X p. 171. 
2. Infectious; tending to communicate or 
spread, or capable of communicating, infection. 
Y 1 is ordered that all such persons as have any notori- 
ous infective decease uppon him shall not be sente to the 
said house of correction to remayne there. 
Ilarl. 3/S., quoted in Ribton-Turner's Vagrants and 
[Vagrancy, p. 118. 
True love, well considered, hath an infective power. 
Sir P. Sidney. 
All infective material . . . should be destroyed. 
Science, IV. 441. 
The morbid products are absorbed, and originate tuber- 
culosis by an infective process. Quain, lied. Diet, p. 697. 
infectiveness (in-fek' tlv-nes), . Infective 
quality or power. 
The conversion of ordinarily harmless microphytes into 
agents of deadly infectiveness. Pop. Sci. Mo., XX. 715. 
Arthur, A Tragedy, F 4, b. (If ares.) 
- -_, , Without doing, inferring, or inflicting, or suffering to 
priv. + fecundus, fruitful : see fecund.] .Not he done i,^ erre a, O r inflicted, to them or any of them, in 
body or goods, any disturbance or impeachment. 
Hakluyt's Voyages, I. 212. 
What need I infer more of their prodigal glisterings 
and their spangled damnations, when these are arguments 
sufficient to show the wealth of sin? 
JUiddlcton, Black Book. 
When the King preferreth any to the dignitie of a Man- 
darine, or to a higher office, their custome is to put vp a 
libell of supplication, inferring their insufficiencie, with 
many modest refusals. Pttrchas, Pilgrimage, p. 440. 
2. To form as an opinion or belief in conse- 
quence of something else observed or believed ; 
derive as a fact or consequence, by reasoning 
of any kind ; accept from evidence or premises ; 
conclude. 
The wit no sooner conceiueth that there is a God, but 
the will inferreth that he ought to be worshipped. 
Purehas, Pilgrimage, p. 31. 
Judging from the past, we may safely infer that not one 
living species will transmit its unaltered likeness to a dis- 
tant futurity. Darwin, Origin of Species, p. 436. 
From mere difference we can infer nothing. 
J. Sully, Outlines of Psychol., p. 415. 
3. To bear presumption or proof of ; imply. 
To stay with follies, or where faults may be, 
Infers a crime, although the party free. 
li. Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, v. ;i. 
Creation inferring providence (for what father forsaketh 
the child that he hath begotten), and providence presup- 
posing creation. Kalevjh, Hist. World, Pref., p. 44. 
What he dared not do inferred some peril, I suppose. 
R. Choate, Addresses, p. 292. 
II. intrans. To conclude ; reach a conclusion 
by reasoning. 
I do not, brother, 
Infer as if I thought my sister's state 
Secure. Wilton, Comus, 1. 408. 
To infer is nothing but, by virtue of one proposition laid 
down as true, to draw in another as true. 
Locke, Human Understanding, IV. xvii. 4. 
inferable (in-fer'a-bl), a. [< infer + -able. Cf. 
inferrible.] Capable of being inferred or de- 
duced; that may be concluded from evidence 
or premises. Sometimes inferrible. 
I have seen much of human prejudice, suffered much 
from human persecution, yet I see no reason hence in- 
ferable which should alter my wishes for their renovation. 
Shelley, in Dowden, I. 218. 
If excess of pressure arrests nerve-action, and if the 
normal amount of pressure allows the normal amount of 
nerve-action ; then it is inferable that nerve-disturbances 
will pass' with undue facility if the pressure is deficient. 
H. Spencer, Prin. of Psychol., 26. 
infelicity (in-fe-lis'i.-ti), .; pi. infelicities (-tiz). i n f er et adv. See in fere, under feerl. 
[= F. infelidtc = fep. infelicidad = Pg. infelici- inference (in'fer-ens), n. [= F. inference = 
dade = It. infelidta, < L. infelicita(t-)s, misfor- g p- Pg inferencia" < ML. inferentia, inference, 
tune, unhappiness, ill luck, < infelix, unfruitful, 
unfortunate, unhappy, < e- priv. + /eta, happy: 
see felicity.] 1. Lack of felicity or good for- 
tune; unhappiness; misfortune; misery. 
To suppresse and hide a mans mirth, and not to haue 
therein a partaker, or at least wise a witnes, is no little 
griefe and infelicity. 
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 36. 
One of the first comforts which one neighbour adminis- 
ters to another is a relation of the like infelicity, combined 
with circumstances of greater bitterness. 
Johnson, Rambler, No. 52. 
2. Unf avorableness ; inappropriateness ; inapt- 
ness: as, the infelicity of the occasion. 
With characteristic infelicity he blundered into the 
room. Bret llarte, Shore and Sedge, p. 171. 
3. An inapt, unskilful, or imperfect mode of 
process of giving symbolical possession of heri- 
table property, the legal evidence of which is 
an instrument of sasine. 
The Sacrament [the Lord's Supper] is one of the seals of 
the covenant of grace which God makes with believers in 
Christ ; & by it He gives them seisine and infeftment of all 
the benefits of the covenant, and of the glorious inheritance 
purchased for them by Christ. 
Rev. J. Willison, Practical Works. 
Base infeftment, a disposition of lands by a vassal, to be 
held of himself. infeftment in security, a temporary 
infeftment to secure paymentof some debt. Infeftment 
Of relief, a similar security to relieve a cautioner, 
infelicific (in-fe-li-sif 'ik), a. [< L. infelix (-ic-~), 
unhappy (see infelicity), + -ficus, < facerc, 
make.] Productive of unhappiness. [Rare.] 
The breach of any moral rule is pro tanto infelicific, 
from its injurious effects on moral habits generally. 
U. Sidguiick, Methods of Ethics, p. 423. 
expression, or the expression itself: as, infe- 
licities of style. 
Errors and infelicities are ... thoroughly wrought into 
our minds, as parts of our habitual mode of expression. 
Whitney, Lang, and Study of Lang., p. 16. 
infelonious (in-fe-16'ui-us), a. [< wz-3 + feloni- 
ous.] Not felonious; not legally punishable. 
The thought of that infelonious murder [of a canary- 
bird] had always made her wince. 
George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, iii. 
infelt (in'felt), o. [< in 1 + felt.] Felt within 
or deeply ; heartfelt. 
The gentle whispers of murmuring love, the hall-smoth- 
ered accents of it/ -felt passion. 
Life of Quin (reprint 1887), p. 37. 
Sp. h u 
< L. iiiferre, infer: see infer.] 1. The forma- 
tion of a belief or opinion, not as directly ob- 
served,but as constrained by observations made 
of other matters or by beliefs already adopted ; 
the system of propositions or judgments con- 
nected together by such an act in a syllogism 
namely, the premises, or the judgment or 
judgments which act as causes, and the con- 
clusion, or the judgment which results as an 
effect; also, the belief so produced. The act of 
inference consists psychologically in constructing in the 
imagination a sort of diagram or skeleton image of the es- 
sentials of the state of things represented in the premises, 
in which, by mental manipulation and contemplation, rela- 
tions that had not been noticed in constructing it are dis- 
covered. In this respect inference is analogous to ex- 
periment, where, in place of a diagram, a simplified state 
of things is used, and where the manipulation is real in- 
stead of mental. Unconscious inference is the determina- 
tion of a cognition by previous cognitions without con- 
sciousness or voluntary control. The lowest kind of con- 
scious inference is where a proposition is recognized as 
inferred, but without distinct apprehension of the premises 
from which it has been inferred. The next lowest is the sim- 
ple consequence, where a belief is recognized as caused by 
another belief, according to some rule or psychical force, 
but where the nature of this rule or leading principle is not 
recognized, and it is in truth some observed fact embodied 
in ahabitof inference. Such, for example, is the celebrated 
inference of Descartes, Cnyito, er<jo sum (' I think, there- 
fore I exist '). Higher forms of inference are (he direct syl- 
logism (see xiilloiiitiH); iipagogic inference, or the reduc- 
tio ad absnrdum, which involves the principle of contradic- 
tion; dilemmatic inference, which involves the principle 
of excluded middle; simple inferences turning upon rela- 
tions; inferences of transposed quantity (see below) ; and 
