potence-flle 
potence-file (po'tt-ns-fil), w. A small hand-file 
with flat and parallel sides. K. 11. Knight. 
potency (po'ten-si), N. ; pi. potencit* (-siz). [As 
lin/rnoe (see -y).] 1. The quality of being po- 
tent; power; inherent strength, (a) Physical, 
mental, or moral power or influence. 
Heavenly (Father], that ndmonlsheth us of his potencit 
and ability, that Is ruler over all things. 
Latimer, First Sermon on the Lord's Prayer. 
When we will tempt the frailty of our powers, 
Presuming on their changeful jxitency. 
Shut., T. and C., Iv. 4. 99. 
'TIs always Springtime here : such is the grace 
And potency of her who has the bliss 
To make it still Klyxlum where she Is. 
J. Coot, Green's Tu Quoque. 
Her spirit resembled, In Its potency, a minute quantity 
of ottar of rose In one of Hepzlbah's huge. Iron-bound 
trunks, diffusing Its fragrance through . . . whatever else 
was treasured there. Hawthorne, Seven Gables, iv 
(6) Potentiality ; capability of development 
Books are not absolutely dead things, but doe contain 
tpotencic of life in them to be as active ae that soule was 
whose progeny they are. Milton, Areopagltlca. 
By an Intellectual necessity I cross the boundary of the 
experimental evidence, and discern In that Matter which 
we, In our ignorance of Its latent powers, and notwithstand- 
ing our professed reverence for Its Creator, have hitherto 
covered with opprobrium, the promise &nd potency of all 
terrestrial Life. TyntlaU, Belfast Address, 1874, p. 75. 
(c) Efficacy; capability of producing given results: as, the 
potency of a medicine. 
Use almost can change the stamp of nature, 
And either master the devil, or throw him out 
With wondrous potency. 
Shale., Hamlet, Hi. 4. 170. (Furnett.) 
(d) Specifically, In An;xifAi/, the power of a drug as in- 
duced by attenuation. Two scales of dilution or attenuation 
are employed, known as the centesimal and the decimal, the 
formerbeing the one advocated by Hahnemann, and the lat- 
ter of more recent Introduction. In the decimal scale, one 
drop of the mother tincture Is added to nine of the diluent, 
which is usually alcohol, with certain manipulations, and 
from this flrst decimal solution orpotency one drop is taken, 
to form, with nine others of the diluent, the second deci- 
mal solution. This process is repeated till the required 
solution or potency is reached. Drugs of high potency 
are those of which the dilution has been frequently re- 
peated, and the medicinal substance correspondingly at- 
tenuated ; drugs of low potency, on the other hand, are 
those in a less diluted, more concentrated condition. The 
thirtieth (centesimal)potency was the highest recommend- 
ed by Hahnemann. 
2. Powerdependent on external circumstances; 
material strength or force; authority. 
Read 
The cardinal's malice and Ms potency 
Together. Shall., Hen. VIII., L 1. 106. 
Afterwards, there coming a company of Indians into 
these parts, that were driven out of their country by the 
potency of the Pequots, they solicited them to go thither. 
y. Morton, New F.ngland's Memorial, p. 171. 
3. Influence; power; sovereignty. 
Strange thunders from the potency of song. 
Keatt, Sleep and Poetry. 
Whose mighty potencie of verse 
Move through the pliistlc universe. 
The Academy, June 15, 1889, p. 407. 
4f. Same as potency, 2.-ob}ectlve potency. See 
objective. Potency of two circles, in math., the square 
of the distance between then* centers less the sum of the 
squares of their radii. 
potent (po'tent), . and w. [I. a. < OF. 'potent 
= 8p. Pg. If. potente, < L. potcn(t-)g, powerful, 
strong, potent, ppr. of panne (ind. jtonnum), be 
able, < potis, able, powerful, orig. a lord, mas- 
ter, = Or. *7roVif, later iroatc, husband, orig. mas- 
ter, lord, = Skt. /ii'li. master, lord, = Lith. pa- 
ds, lord. The same element occurs also in des- 
pot, hosft, q. v. II. n. < ME. potent, potente, 
a crutch, equiv. to potence, a crutch : see po- 
tence.] I. a. 1. Powerful ; possessed of inher- 
ent strength, (a) Powerful in a physical sense; ef- 
fective; efficacious. 
Moses once more his potent rod extends. 
.Vi7/.., I-. L,,xll. 211. 
A beautiful crimson flower, the most gorgeous and beau- 
tiful, surely, that ever grew ; so rich It looked, so full of 
potent juice. Ilaictnorne, Septimlus Felton, p. 119. 
(b) Powerful In a moral sense; having great Influence; 
cogent; prevailing; convincing: as, potent arguments: 
potent Interest 
I do believe 
Induced by potent circumstances, that 
You are mine enemy. Shot., Hen. VIII., II. 4. 76. 
Rise, madam ; those iweet tears are potent speakers. 
Fletcher, Wife for a Monti, v. 3. 
We may well think there was no small Conflict In King 
Edward's Mind between the two great commanders, Love 
and Honour, which of them should be most potent. 
Bator, Chronicles, p. 206. 
Such a majesty 
As drew of old the people after him . . . 
It potent still on mi- in his decline. 
M. Arnold, Empedocleson Ktnn. 
2. Having great authority, control, or domin- 
ion. 
The Jews Imagining that their Messiah should be a po- 
tent monarch ii|n earth. Hooker, K.-clea. Polity, vll. 18. 
Potent Counter- 
potent. 
4650 
Most patent, grave, and reverend signion. 
Shot., Othello, L 3. 76, 
3. In her., divided or included by a line or lim > 
forming a series of potents: as, a fesse potent. 
[In this sense originally notrutf."] Cross potent. 
Sec erostl. = 8yn. 1 and 2. Puissant, cogent, Influential. 
II. . It. A prince; a potentate. 
Cry"havock"! kings; back to the stained field. 
You equal potentt, flery kindled spirits ! 
Shalt., K.. John, II. 1. 888. 
2f. A crutch ; a walking-staff. 
Fro the bench he droof awey the cat, 
And leyde adoun his potente and his hat. 
Chaucer, Sunuuoner's Tale, 1. 68. 
A pyk la In th&t potent to punge a-doun the wikkede, 
That wayten eny wlkkednesse. 
Pier Plowman (AX Ix. 88. 
3. In her.: (a) A figure resembling the head of 
a crutch, and consisting of a parallelogram laid 
horizontally on the top of a small square, (b) 
A fur made up of patches or figures. There are 
four varieties, (if these, the first is the most common, and 
is generally called potent ; the second is generally called 
counter-potent ; and the others are varie- 
ties which different authors describe by 
the above names, or by the term potent 
counter-potent, which is applied to one 
or the other Indifferently. 
4. In watch-making, a journal 
plate or bearing. E. H. Knight. 
potentacyt (po'ten-ta-si), . 
[< potenta(te) + -cy.~] Sover- 
eignty. 
That observation of Socrates, that long before his time 
the Roman episcopacy had advanced itself beyond the 
priesthood Into a potentacy. Barrow, Works, VIL 871. 
potentate (po'ten-tat), n. [< F.potentat = 8p. 
Pg. potentado = It. potmtato, a potentate, < 
LL. potentatus, might, power, political power, 
ML. a potentate, prince, < L. poten(t-)s, pow- 
erful: see potent."] 1. A person who possesses 
power or sway; a prince; sovereign; monarch; 
ruler. 
The blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and 
Lord of lords. 1 Tim. vL 15. 
Kings and mightiest potentates must die, 
Shalt., 1 Hen. VI., ill. 2. 136. 
2f. A power; state; sovereignty. 
Carthage grew so great a Potentate, that at first was but 
Incirculed in the throngs of a Bulls sklnne, as to flght with 
Runic for the Empire of the world. 
Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, 
[I. 242. 
potent^ (po-ten-ta'), a. [(po- 
tent, ., 3.] Same as potent- 
ed. 
potented (po'ten-ted), . [< 
potent, n., 3,+ -frf 2 .] In her.. 
having the outer edge stepped 
or battlemented in the form of 
potents. 
potential (po-ten'shal). a. and n. [< ME. potfn- 
rial, < OF. potential, potential, F.potcntiel = Pr. 
Sp. Pg. puteiieial = It. potmziale, < LL. *noten- 
tialis, of power (in adv. potentinliter), < L. pa- 
tentia, power: seejwiwc*.] I. a. If. Potent; 
powerful; mighty. 
O most potential love ! vow, Imnd, nor space, 
In thee hath neither sting, knot, nor confine, 
For thou art all, and all things else are thine. 
Shot., Lover's Complaint, 1. 264. 
2. Possible, as opposed to actual ; capable of 
being or becoming; capable of coming into full 
being or manifestation. 
Potential merit stands for actual, 
Where only opportunity doth want, 
Not will, nor power. 
B. JiiiMin, Cynthia's Revels, v. S. 
Nor doth It [Ice] only submit unto an actual heat, but 
not endure the potential calldlty of many waters. 
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., II. L 
Alfenus was a cobbler, even when not at work; that Is, 
he was a cobbler potential; whereas, when busy In his 
booth, he was a cobbler actual. 
Sir W. Hamilton, Metaphysics, vIL 
We cannot form any Idea of a potential existence of the 
universe as distinguished from its actual existence. 
U. Spencer, First Principles, p. 82. 
3. In physics, existing in a positional form, not 
as motion: especially in the phrase potential 
nifriiy. 4. In gram., expressing power or pos- 
sibility: as, the potenho/ mode; potential forms. 
Potential being. See being. Potential cautery. 
See cautery, 1. Potential composition, in wetaph., the 
union of two things related as power and act. Potential 
difference. .-amc as di/erenee of potential* (which see, 
mnlcr di/erenee).- Potential energy. See energy 7. 
Potential essence. In metaph.. the essence of something 
that does not actually exist. Potential existence, ex- 
istence In an undeveloped state: preparedness such that 
on an appropriate occasion the subject will come Into ex- 
istence. Potential function. See .function.- Poten- 
tial group, wee /r.mpi .Potential mode, In <mm., a 
name sometime* clvm t., \n I. fonni or verb-phrases that 
Argent, a Fesse Po- 
tented Purpure. 
potentiality 
express power, possibility, or liberty of action or of be- 
ing: as, I may go; he ran unite. Potential part (a) 
A species as contained under a genus, (ft) See phrase 
under part. Potential Whole, a genus as containing 
species under it. 
Because universal contains not subjected species's and 
individuals In act, that Is actually, but power, It Is come 
to pass that this whole Is called potential. 
Bvrgendiciut, tr. by a Gentleman, L xlv. 9. 
n. ". 1. Anything that may be possible; a 
possibility. 2." In dynamics: () The sum of 
the products of all the pairs of masses of a 
system, each product divided by the distance 
between the pair. The conception Is due to Lagrange, 
the name to Green (1828) and independently to Gauss 
(1840). Tlie potential Is so called because its product by 
one constant differs only by another constant from the to- 
tal vit vioa of the system. In case there Is but one attracting 
point, the potential is the sum of the masses, each divided 
by its distance from the point (6) More generally, 
the line-integral of the attractions of a con- 
servative system from a fixed configuration to 
its actual configuration; the work that would 
be done by a system of attracting and repelling 
masses (obeying the law of energy) in moving 
from situations infinitely remote from one an- 
other (or from any other fixed situations) to 
their actual situation, in this sense, the potential Is 
, 
the negative of the potential energy, to a constant pret. 
But some writers limit the use of the word to the cue 
in which the bodies In (< i 1 ) (linientional space attract 
one another Inversely as the 8th power of the distance. 
(c) In electrostatics, at any point near or within 
an electrified body, the quantity of work ne- 
cessary to bring a unit of positive electricity 
from an infinite distance to that point, the 
given distribution of electricity remaining un- 
altered. See eyuipotential. (d) A scalar quan- 
tity distributed through space in such a way 
that its slope represents a given vector quan- 
tity distributed through space. Difference of 
potentials. See <ii/erenre. Logarithmic potential 
the potential for a force varying inversely as the distance. 
It is proportional to the logarithm of the distance, and is 
Important In reference to the theory of functions. Mag- 
netic potential, at any point in a magnetic field, the 
quantity of work expended in bringing a positive unit 
magnetic pole from a given distance to that point. New- 
tonian potential See A" eietonian. Potential differ- 
ence. Same as difference of potential! (which see, un- 
der difference). Potential of dilatation, the function 
whose partial differential coefficients are the components 
of a dilatation. Velocity potential, a scalar quantity 
such that the velocity of a mass of fluid in irrotational 
motion Is everywhere equal to the slope of this quantity 
that Is to say. coincides in direction and In amount 
with the most rapid change of the value of the potential 
with the space. See slope. Zero potential. In elect., 
strictly, the potential of a point infinitely distant from 
all electrified bodies; practically, the potential of the 
earth, this being taken as an arbitrary zero, analogous 
to the sea-level In measuring altitudes. A body which 
is positively electrified is said to be at a higher poten- 
tial, one negatively electrified nt a lower, than the as- 
sumed zero of the earth. Potential in electricity Is anal- 
ogous to temperature; and, as heat tends to pa&s from a 
point at a higher to one at a lower temperature, so elec- 
tricity tends to move from a higher to a lower potential. 
Two bodies, then, one or both of which are electrified. If 
brought into metallic connection with each other, will 
assume the same potential, which will be determined by 
their original potential and their capacity. (See capacity.) 
The time necessary for this equalisation of potential will 
depend on the resistance of the connecting conductor. 
Thus, an electrified body connected with the earth loses 
1U electricity that Is, takes the zero potential of the 
latter the capacity of the earth being indefinitely great. 
If the difference of potentials between two connected 
bodies is kept up hi any way by the expenditure of me- 
chanical work as In turning a Holtz machine, or of chemi- 
cal energy as In a voltaic battery there results an elec- 
tric current. Hence, In electrokinetics, the difference of 
potential determines the electromotive force of the elec- 
tric current, being analog ous to the difference of It vel lie- 
tween two reservoirs of water, which determines the pres- 
sure causing the flow. 
potentiality (po-ten-sbi-al'i-ti), n.; pi. potenti- 
alities (-tiz). [<; F. potentiality = Sp. potenci- 
uliiinii It.potcnziahtd,< 1Hj.*potentianta(t-)8, 
< 'potentialis, potential: see potential.] 1. The 
state of being potential; mere being without 
actualization; the state of being capable of 
development into actuality: as, to exist in /m- 
tentiality: opposed to cntclcciiy. 2. A potential 
state, quality, or relation; the inherent <-:i]>.-i 
bility of developing some actual state or qual- 
ity; possibility of development in pome particu- 
lar direction ; capability; possibility. 
For space and time, if we abstract from their special de- 
termination by objects, are mere txrfi(ioWt>orp<iliili- 
ties of relations. K. Caird, Philos. of Kant 
Rndlinentanrorgans sometimes retain t 
this occasionally occur* with the mnmma- of male innm- 
mals, for they have been known to becomr well developed, 
and to secrete milk. Airirm, Origin of Bpceta, p. 40n. 
An old fashioned American rustic hom< : m.i . i 
home far above that in refinement and putrittialitiet 
but equally simple, frugal, nnd iliMnit. 
t. C. fitrdman, 1'o.t-. >( Vinciim p. 117. 
In using the notion of srlf di-\i In) ..... tit mil-' 
fully ex. lin I. tli. :,],j,ar. nl Implication that we are beings 
