practical 
it from first to last, is one which belongs altogether to 
practical life. J. R. Seeley, Nat. Religion, p. 166. 
2. In effect and result ; to all intents and pur- 
poses ; equivalent to (something) in force or in- 
fluence ; virtual : as, a victory may be a practi- 
cal defeat. 
That imagined "otherwise" which is our practical 
heaven. Qeorge Eliot, Middlemarch, II. 49. 
We are not to be guilty of that practical athelam which, 
seeing no guidance for human affairs but Its own limited 
foresight, endeavours- itself to play the god, and decide 
what will be good for mankind, and what bad. 
//. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 618. 
The great advantage of our practical republic over your 
avowed republic . . . is the power of changing the actual 
ruler at any moment, while you must keep the chief ma- 
gistrate once chosen till the end of a died term. 
E. A. Freeman, Amer. Lects., p. 390. 
Practical agriculture, arithmetic, chemistry, cog- 
nition, geometry, etc. See the nouns. Practical con- 
viction, a conviction relating to morals or practice. 
Practical joke, a jest carried into action ; a trick played 
upon a person, to annoy him and amuse the performers 
and others. Practical Judgment, the Judgment that 
something can or ought to be done. Practical know- 
ledge, knowledge the end of which is action. Practical 
location, in the law o/ real property, the actual location 
or establishment (of a boundary-line) with the continued 
acquiescence of the adjoining owners. Practical logic 
logic as an art teaching how to reason well Practical 
metaphysics, the theory of the nature of duty and the 
end of living. -Practical meteorology, philosophy, 
possibility, power, etc. See the nouns. Practical 
proposition, the statement of the solution of a problem. 
Practical reason, the thinking will; the will deter- 
mining itself according to general laws ; that which gives 
imperative laws of freedom. Practical sentiments, 
sentiments accompanying the conative powers. =SjTL 1. 
Practical, Practicable. See impracticable. 
practicalist (prak'ti-kal-ist), H. [< practical 
+ -int.'] One who derives his knowledge from 
or relies upon experience or practice ; an em- 
piric. [Rare.] 
practicality (prak-ti-kal'i-ti), . [< practical 
+ -ity.] The character of being practical, or 
concerned with material considerations; prac- 
ticalness. 
The fair Susan, stirring up her Indolent enthusiasm into 
practicality, was very successful in finding Spanish lessons, 
and the like, for these distressed men. 
Carlyle, Sterling, x. (Dames.) 
practicalize (prak'ti-kal-i/,), v. t.; pret. and pp. 
practicalteed, ppr. practicalifinff. [< practical 
+ -ire.] To make practical ; convert into ac- 
tual work or use. [Rare.] 
While he (my father] saved me from the demoralizing 
effects of school life, he made no effort to provide me with 
any sufficient substitute for its practicalizing influences. 
J. S. Mill, Autobiography, p. 37. 
practically (prak'ti-kal-i), adv. 1. In a prac- 
tical manner; from a practical point of view; 
by actual experience ; not merely theoretically: 
as, to be practically acquainted with a business. 
Not childhood alone, but the young man till thirty, never 
feels practically that he is mortal. Lamb, New Year's Eve. 
Differences of definition are logically unimportant ; but 
practically they sometimes produce the most momentous 
effects. Macaulay, Mitford's Hist. Greece. 
2. In effect; actually, so far as results and re- 
lations are concerned ; as a matter of fact. 
Eventually, the head executive agent [in Florence], nom- 
inally re-elected from time to time, but practically per- 
manent, became, in the person of Cosmo de' Medici, the 
founder of an inherited leadership. 
H. Spencer, Prin. of Sociol., 8 488. 
Formally, the Imperial power was bestowed by a special 
grant of the Senate ; practically, it was the prize of any 
Roman that could grasp It. 
E. A. Freeman, Amer. Lects., p. 337. 
practicalness (prak'ti-kal-nes), n. Practicality, 
practice, r. See practise. 
practice (pvak'tis), . [Formerly also practise; 
< ME. 'practise, prattise; (practice, practise, v.; 
a later noun taking the place of the earlier noun 
practie. The spelling practice (with c instead 
of s) is appar. in conformity with practie, prac- 
tical, etc.] 1. Action; exercise; performance; 
the process of accomplishing or carrying out ; 
performance or execution as opposed to spec- 
ulation or theory. 
It was with difficulty that he [Archimedes] was induced 
to stoop from speculation to practice. 
Macaulay, Lord Bacon. 
We study Ethics, as Aristotle says, for the sake of Prac- 
tice; and in practice we are concerned with particulars. 
If. Sidgvick, Methods of Ethics, p. 191. 
The world of practice depends on man in quite a differ- 
ent sense from that in which nature, or the world of expe- 
rience, does so. T. II. Green, Prolegomena to Ethics, { 87. 
2. Aii action; act; proceeding; doing: in the 
plural, generally in a bad sense. 
Heanens make our presence and our practites 
Pleasant and helpfull to him. 
Shale., Hamlet (folio 1823), ii. 2. 
Our practices haue hitherto beene but assayes, and are 
still to be amended. Capt. John Smith, Works, I. 59. 
4665 
Loose principles, and bad practices, and extravagant de- 
sires naturally dispose men to endeavour changes and al- 
terations, in hopes of bettering themselves by them. 
StiUingJIcet, Sermons, II. Iv. 
3. Frequent or customary performance; habit; 
usage; custom. 
When I was a Student as you are, my Practict was to 
borrow rather than buy some sort of Books. 
II,',,. It. Letters, 11. 21. 
He (a Maronlte priest] prepared a supper for us, and we 
lay on the top of the house, which is a very common prac- 
tice In this country during the summer season. 
Pococte, Description of the East, II. L 99. 
4. The regular pursuit of some employment or 
business; the exercise of a profession; hence, 
the business of a practitioner: as, to dispose of 
one's practice; a physician in lucrative prac- 
tice. 
Some lawyers are already said to be called upon either 
to bring certificates of their communicating, or to pay 
their fines and give over their practice. 
Court and Times qf Charles. [., I. 65. 
His predecessor in this career had "bettered " himself 
... by seeking the practice of some large town. 
Trollope, Doctor Thome. 
5. Exercise for instruction or discipline; train- 
ing; drill: as, practice makes perfect. 
Proceed In practice with my younger daughter ; 
She 's apt to leam and thankful for good turns. 
Shot., T. of the 8., II. 1. 165. 
Practice is the exercise of an art, or the application of a 
science, in life, which application Is itself an art, for It Is 
not every one who is able to apply all he knows. 
Sir W. Hamilton, Metapb., x. 
6. The state of being used ; customary use ; ac- 
tual application. 
Redilc'd to practice, his beloved rule 
Would only prove him a consummate fool. 
Coicper, Conversation, I. 139. 
7. Skill acquired through use; experience; 
dexterity. 
This disease Is beyond my practice. 
Shot., Macbeth, v. 1. 65. 
What practice, howsoe'er expert, . . . 
Hath power to give thee as thou wcrt? 
Tennyson, In Memoriam, Ixxv. 
8. Artifice ; treachery ; a plot ; a stratagem. 
And in this first yerealso this realmewas troubled with 
ciuilc sedition, and the craf tie practites of the Frenchmen. 
Gra/ton, Hen. IV., an. 1. 
His vows were but mere courtship ; all his service 
But practice how to entrap a credulous lady. 
Fletcher (and another), Queen of Corinth, I. 2. 
About this time were Practices plotted against Queen 
Elizabeth in behalf of the Queen of Scots, chiefly by Fran- 
cis Throgmorton, eldest Son of John Throgmorton, Justice 
of Chester. Baiter, Chronicles, p. 802. 
But Vivien . . . clung to him and hngg'd him close 
And call'd him dear protector in her fright, 
Nor yet forgot her practice in her fright, 
But wrought upon his mood and hngg'il him close. 
Tennyson, Merlin and Vivien. 
9. Ill aritli., a rule for expeditiously solving 
questions in proportion, or rather for abridging 
the operation of multiplying quantities ex- 
pressed in different denominations, as when it 
is required to find the value of a number of 
articles at so many pounds, shillings, and pence 
each. 10. The form and manner of conduct- 
ing legal proceedings, whether at law, or in 
equity, or in criminal procedure, according to 
the principles of law and the rules of the court ; 
those legal rules which direct the course of pro- 
ceeding to bring parties into court, and the 
course of the court after they are brought in. 
Itixliop. Pleading is generally considered as another 
branch of the law, because it Involves questions of sub- 
stantive right. Corrupt and Illegal Practices Pre- 
vention Act. See corrupt. In practice (or out of prac- 
tice), (a) In (or not in) the actual performance or exercise 
(of some function or occupation): as, a physician who is in 
practice. (6) Hence, in possession of (or lacking) that skill 
or facility which conies from the continuous exercise of 
bodily or mental power. Practice Act, a name under 
which are known statutes of several of the I'nlted States, 
regulating procedure of the courts in civil cases. Prac- 
tice cases, practice reports, cases or reports of cases de. 
cided on questions of practice, as distinguished from those 
decided on the merits of controversies. Privateer prac- 
tice. Same as pricateerism. To break of a habit or 
practice. See break. To put In practice, to apply 
practically ; execute ; carry oat. 
Their conceits are [not] the fittest things to bee put in 
practice, or their own countenances [to] maintaine Plan- 
tations. Capt. John Smith, Works, II. 242. 
= Syn. 3. Habit, Usage, etc. See custom. S. Practice, 
Experience. Practice is sometimes erroneously used for 
experience, which is a much broader word. Practice is the 
repetition of an act : as, to become a skilled marksman by 
practice. Experience is, by derivation, a going clear 
through, and may mean action, but much oftener views 
the person as acted upon, taught, disciplined, by what be- 
falls him. 
practiced, practicer. * praeUMd, /,ractiser. 
practice-ship (prak'tis-ship), H. .\ *hip used 
for the training of boys and young seamen. 
practise 
Sailing cutters cluster about a long wharf that reaches 
deep water, amd holds In safe moorings the practice-ship 
Constellation and the school ship San tee. 
Harpers Mag., LJLXVIL 168. 
practician (prak-tish'an), n. [< OF. practiciex, 
praticien, V.praticien^si practiser, practitioner. 
as adj. practising, practical; &s practie + -ian.} 
If. A practitioner. 
He was ane right Courtlclane, 
An In the Law ane practician*. 
Sir D. Lyndsay, Squyer Meldrum (E. E. T. 8.X L 1598. 
2. One who practises or performs, in distinc- 
tion from one who theorizes or speculates. 
They . . . must shun, on one hand, the blind pride of 
the fanatic theorist, and, on the other, the no leas blind 
pride of the liltertine praet ician. 
Guuot, Hist. Civilisation (trans., ed. Appleton, 1872), I. 84. 
practickl, a. and n. See practie. 
practicat (prak'tiks), n. [PI. of practie.] The 
name formerly given to the reported decisions 
of the Court of Session in Scotland with refer- 
ence to their authority in fixing and proving 
the practice and consuetudinary rules of law. 
They are now termed decisions. Alsopractiquen. 
The latter spoke disparagingly of Sir James Ralfour's 
"practurues," Quarterly Kev., CXLVI. BO. 
practisantt (prak'ti-zant), . [< OF. practi- 
sant, ppr. of practiser j practise: see practise, 
r.] One who practises or acts; an agent; es- 
pecially, an agent in treachery ; a confederate. 
Here enter'd Pucelle and her practitantt. 
Ska*., 1 Hen. VI., III. 2. 20. 
practise, practice (prak'tis), r. ; pret. and pp. 
practised, practiced, ppr. practising, practicing. 
[< ME. practiaen, prattisen (= D. praktiseren = 
Sw. praktiaera = Dan. praktin(re), < OF. prac- 
tiser, pratiser (ML. practizare), for the usual 
practiquer, pratiquer, F. pratiquer = Pr. prati- 
car = 8p. practicar = Pg. praticar = It. prati- 
care, < ML. practicare, praticarc, do, perform, 
execute, propose, practise, exercise, be conver- 
sant with, contrive, conspire, etc., < practica, 
practical affairs, business, etc. : see practie.'] 
1. trans. 1. To put into action or practice; ex- 
ecute ; perform ; enact. 
I laugh to see your ladyship so fond 
To think that you have aught but Talbot's shadow 
Whereon to practise your severity. 
Shale., 1 Hen. VI., 11. 3. 47. 
And (strange to tell !) he practit'd what he preach'd. 
Armstrong, Art of Preserving Health, Iv. 
\\<- prnrii*ed every pass and ward, 
To thrust, to strike, to feint, to guard. 
Scott, L. of the L., v. 15. 
Things learned on earth we shall prartinr In heaven. 
Brouming, Old Pictures in Florence. 
2. To do or perform frequently or habitually; 
make a practice of; observe or follow usually: 
as, to practise the Christian virtues ; to practise 
deception. 
The lawe of god is lltel studied, . . . lesse kept <t 
taught; but the olde testament for wynnyng of tythes A- 
ulfryngis is sumwhat practited. 
WycHf, Office of Curates (E. E. T. #.\ xxv. 
I have pardon'd. 
And pardon d, and by that have made her fit 
To practise new sins, not repent the old. 
Beau, and Fl., King and no King, L 1. 
Why the Essenes, as an orthodox Jewish sect, should 
have practited any secrecy, Josephus would have found It 
hard to say. De (Juincey, Essenes, L 
3t. To make use of; frequent. 
The court he practited, not the courtier's art, 
Dryden, Aba. and Achit, L 826. 
Af ter having practited the Paris Coachesfor four months, 
I once rid in the easiest Chariot of my Lord's, which came 
from England. Litter, Journey to Paris, p. 12. 
4. To exercise or pursue as a profession, art, 
or occupation : as, to practise law. 
2 A'tA. Canst thou catch any fishes, then? 
Per. I never practited It. Shot., Pericles, II. 1. n. 
The art of architecture continues to be practited with 
considerable success In parts of India remote from Euro 
pean Influence. J. Ferytttton, Hist. Indian Arch., p. 86. 
5. To exercise one's self in, with the object of 
acquiring skill or experience ; study or learn by 
repeated performance: as, to practise a piece 
of music. 
Perhaps the ladies wQl condescend to hear a march and 
chorus, which some recruits are practising against his 
majesty comes to the camp. Shendan (T), The Camp, IL 3. 
I wish I had e\er practised a love scene I doubt I 
shall make a poor figure. Sheridan, The Duenna, ii. 2. 
6. To cause to practise ; teach by practice or 
exercise; train; drill. 
But practue him a little in men, and brash him ore with 
good com panie, and hee shall out ballance those glisterers 
as much as a solid substance do's a feather, or Gold Gold- 
lace. 
Bp. Karle, Uli-ro-cosmographle, A Downe right Scholler. 
