respirometer 
respirometer (res-pi-rom'e-ter), . [Irreg. < L. 
respirurc, take breath, + Gr. nirpov, measure.] 
1. An instrument which is used to determine 
the condition of the respiration. 2. An appa- 
ratus for supplying air to a diver under water 
by means of a supply of compressed oxygen, 
which is caused to combine in due proportion 
with nitrogen chemically filtered from the air 
expired from his lungs in breathing. 
respite (res'pit), n. [Early mod. E. respit; < 
ME. respit, respyt, respi/te, < OK. respit, respect, 
delay, respite, F. rcpit = Pr. respieg, respeit = 
Sp. respecto = Pg. respeito = It. rispitto, rispetto, 
respect, delay, < L. respectus, consideration, re- 
spect, ML. delay, postponement, respite, proro- 
gation: see respect] If. Respect; regard. See 
respect. 
Out of more respit, 
Myn herte hath for to amende it grete delit. 
Chaucer, Troilus, v. 137. 
2. Temporary intermission of labor, or of any 
process or operation ; interval of rest ; pause. 
With that word, withoute more respite, 
They fillen gruf and cridcn pitously. 
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 90. 
Some pause and respite only I require. 
Sir J. Denham, Passion of Dido for ^Eneas. 
Byzantium has a respite of half a century, and Egypt of 
more than a hundred years, of Mameluke tyranny. 
Stubbs, Medieval and Modern Hist., p. 202. 
3. A putting off or postponement of what was 
fixed; delay; forbearance; prolongation of 
time, as for the payment of a debt, beyond the 
fixed or legal time. 
To make you understand this, ... I crave but four days' 
respite. Shale., M. for M., iv. 2. 170. 
4. In tow: (a) A reprieve; temporary suspen- 
sion of the execution of a capital offender. See 
reprieve. 
The court gave him respite to the next session (which 
was appointed the flrst Tuesday in August) to bethink 
himself, that, retracting and reforming his error, etc., the 
court might show him favor. 
Winthrop, Hist. New England, I. 265. 
Christian . . . had some respite, and was remanded 
back to prison. Eunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, p. 161. 
Why grant me respite who deserve my doom ? 
Browning, Ring and Book, II. 247. 
(6) The delay of appearance at court granted 
to a jury beyond the proper term. =Syn. 2. Stop, 
cessation, stay. 4. Reprieve, Respite. See reprieve. 
respite (res'pit), v. t. ; pret. and pp. respited, 
ppr. respiting. [< ME. respiten, respite, < OF. 
respiter, respeiter, respect, delay, postpone, < L. 
respectare, consider, respect, ML. delay, post- 
pone: see respect.] 1. To delay; postpone; 
adjourn. 
Thanne to the Sowdon furth with all they went, 
The lordes and the knyghtes euerychone, 
And prayed hym to respite the lugement. 
Generydes (E. B. T. 8.), 1. 1641. 
They declared only their opinions in writing, and res- 
pited the full determination to another general meeting. 
Winthrop, Hist. New England, I. 383. 
2. To relieve for a time from the execution of 
a sentence or other punishment or penalty ; re- 
prieve. 
It is grete harme that thow art no cristin, and fain I 
wolde that thow so were, to respite the fro deth. 
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 592. 
Jeffreys had respited the younger brother. 
Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vii. 
3. To relieve by a pause or interval of rest. 
With a dreadful industry of ten days, not respiting his 
Souldiers day or night, [Cresar] drew up all his Ships, and 
entrench'd them round within the circuit of his Camp. 
Milton, Hist. Eng., 11. 
Care may be respited, but not repealed ; 
No perfect cure grows on that bounded field. 
Wordsworth, Evening Voluntaries, Iv. 
4f. To cease ; forbear. 
Your manly resoun oghte it to respite, 
To slen your frende, and namely me, 
That never yet in no degre 
Offended you. 
Chaucer, Anelida and Arcite, 1. 269. 
=Syn. 2. See reprieve, n. 
respiteless (res'pit-les), a. [< respite + -less.] 
Without respite or relief. Baxter. 
resplend (re-splend'), v. i. [< ME. resplenden, 
< OF. resplendir, also resplandre, F. resplendir 
= Pr. resplandre, renplandir (cf . Sp. Pg. resplan- 
decer) = It. risplendere, < L. resplendere, shine 
brightly, glitter, < re-, again, back, + splendere, 
shine: see splendid.] To shine; be resplendent. 
Lydgate. [Rare.] 
Lieutenant-General Webb, . . . who resplended in velvet 
and gold lace. Thackeray, Henry Esmond, ii. 15. 
resplendence (re-splen'dens), n. [< LL. re- 
splendentia, < L.' resplend"en(t-)s, resplendent: 
see resplendent.] Brilliant luster ; vivid bright- 
ness; splendor. 
5111 
Son t thou in whom my glory I behold 
In full resplendence, heir of all my might. 
Milton, . L., v. 720. 
= 8yn. See radiance. 
resplendency (re-splen'den-si), n. [As re- 
splendence (see -cy).] Same as resplendence. 
Cotgrare. 
resplendent (re-splen'dent), a. [< ME. re- 
splendent, < L. 'resplenden (t-)s, ppr. of resplen- 
dere, shine brightly: see resplend.] 1. Shining 
with brilliant luster; very bright; splendid. 
There all within full rich arayd he found, 
With royall arras, and resplendent gold. 
Spenser, F. Q., I. viii. 36. 
Bright 
As the resplendent cactus of the night, 
That floods the gloom with fragrance and with light. 
0. W. Holmes, Bryant's Seventieth Birthday. 
2. In her. , issuing rays : said especially of the 
sun, sometimes of clouds. See radiant, 3 Re- 
splendent feldspar. Same as adularia or moonstone. 
= Syn. 1. Glorious, beaming. See radiance. 
resplendently (re-splen'dent-li), adv. In a re- 
splendent manner; with brilliant luster ; with 
great brightness. 
resplendisht (re-splen'dish), v. i. [< OF. re- 
splendiss-, stem of certain parts of resplendir, 
shine brightly: see resplend.] To shine with 
great brilliancy ; be resplendent. 
Vppon this said tombe was he ther ligging, 
Respfendising fair in this chambre sprad. 
Rom. of Partenay (E. E. T. S.), 1. 4512. 
The heuyn visible is ... garnisshed with pianettes 
and sterres, resplendisskinge in the moste pure firmament. 
Sir T. Elyot, The Governour, iii. -2. 
resplendishantt (re-splen'di-shant), a. [< OF. 
resplendissant, ppr. of resplendir, shine bright- 
ly: see resplend.] Resplendent; brilliant. 
And thorowe ye vertue of thy full inyght 
Causest y world to be resple'iulinnlitnuit. 
Fabyan, Chron., xlix. 
resplendishingt (re-splen'di-shing), . Re- 
splendence; splendor. 
And as the Suune doth glorifie each thing 
(Howeuer base) on which he deigns to smile, 
So your cleare eyes doe giue resplendishing 
To all their objects, be they ne'er so vile. 
Davies, Muse's Sacrifice, p. 7. (Davieg.) 
respond (re-spond'), v. [< OF. respondre, re- 
spundre, F. repondre = Pr. respondre = Sp. Pg. 
responder = It. respondere, rispondere, < L. re- 
spondere, pp. responsus, answer, < re-, again, 
back, + spondere, pp. sponsus, promise: see 
sponsor. Cf. despond, correspond.] I. intrans. 
1. To make answer; give a reply in words; 
specifically, to make a liturgical response. 
I remember him in the divinity school responding and 
disputing with a perspicuous energy. 
Oldisworth, Edmund Smith, in Johnson's Lives of the Poets. 
2. To answer or reply in any way ; exhibit some 
action or effect in return to a force or stimulus. 
A new affliction strings a new chord in the heart, which 
responds to some new note of complaint within the wide 
scale of human woe. Buckminster. 
Whenever there arises a special necessity for the better 
performance of any one function, or for the establishment 
of some function, nature will respond. 
B. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 427. 
3. To correspond ; suit. 
To every theme responds thy various lay. 
W. Broome, To Mr. Pope, On His Works (1726). 
4. To be answerable ; be liable to make pay- 
ment : as, the defendant is held to respond m 
II. trans. If. To answer to; correspond to. 
[Rare.] 
His great deeds respond his speeches great. 
Fairfax, tr. of Tasso's Godfrey of Boulogne, x. 40. 
2. To answer; satisfy, as by payment : as, the 
prisoner was held to respond the judgment of 
the court. 
respond (re-spond'), n. [< ME. responde, re- 
spounde, respowne, respon; from the verb.] It. 
An answer; a response. 
Whereunto the whole Annie answered with a short re- 
spond, and, at the same time, bowing themselues to the 
ground, saluted the Moone with great superstition. 
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 285. 
2. In liturgies : (a) A versicle or short anthem 
chanted at intervals during the reading of a 
lection. In the Anglican Church the responses to the 
commandments (Kyries) are responds in this sense. 
The reader paused, and the choir burst in with responds, 
versicles, and anthems. 
R. W. Dixon, Hist Church of Eng., xv. 
(6) A response. 
The clerk answering in the name of all, Et cum splritu 
tuo, and other responds. 
J. Bradford, Works (Parker Soc., 1858), II. 334. 
3. In arch., a half-pillar, pilaster, or any cor- 
responding device engaged in a wall to receive 
the impost of an arch. 
response 
The four responds have the four evangelistic symbols. 
E. A, Freeman, Venice, p. 208. 
respondeat ouster. See judgment. 
responde-book (re-spon'de-buk), n. A book 
kept by the directors of chancery in Scotland 
for entering the accounts of all non-entry and 
relief duties payable by heirs who take precepts 
from chancery. 
respondence (re-spon'dens), n. [= It. rispon- 
denza, conformity, < L. 'responden(t-)s, respon- 
dent: see respondent. Cf. correspondence."] 1. 
The state or character of being respondent; 
also, the act of responding or answering; re- 
sponse. 
'I'll' Angelicall soft trembling voyces made 
To th' instruments divine respondence meet. 
Spenser, F. Q., II. xii. 71. 
2f. Correspondence; agreement. 
His rent in fair respondence must arise 
To double trebles of his one yeare's price. 
Bp. Hall, Satires, V. 1. 57. 
respondency (re-spon'den-si), n. [As respon- 
dence (see -cy).] bame as respondence. 
Thus you see the respondency of the spiritual to the nat- 
ural fool in their qualities. Rev. T. Adams, Works, I. 248. 
respondent (re-spon'dent), a. and n. [= OF. 
respondent, Y.'reponddnt = Sp. respondiente = 
Pg. respondents = It. rispondente, < L. respon- 
den(t-)s, ppr. of respondere, answer: see re- 
spond.] I. a. 1. Answering; responding. 
The wards respondent to the key turn round ; 
The bars fall back. Pope, Odyssey, xxi. 49. 
2. Conformable; corresponding. 
Wealth respondent to payment and contributions. 
Bacon. 
Well may this palace admiration claim, 
Great, and respondent to the master's fame ! 
Pope, Odyssey, xvii. 315. 
H. n. 1. One who responds ; specifically, in 
a scholastic disputation, one who maintains a 
thesis, and defends it against the objections of 
one or more opponents. There was no burden of 
proof upon the respondent at the outset, but; owing to the 
admissions which he was obliged by the rules of disputa- 
tion to make, it was soon thrown upon him. 
Let them [scholars] occasionally change their attitude 
of mind from that of receivers and respondents to that of 
enquirers. Fitch, Lectures on Teaching, p. 172. 
Specifically 2. One who answers or is called 
on to answer a petition or an appeal. 3. In 
math. , a quantity in the body of a table : opposed 
to argument, or the regularly varying quantity 
with which the table is entered. Thus, in a table 
of powers, where the base is entered at the side, the expo- 
nent at the top, and the power is found in the body of 
the table, the last quantity is the respondent. 
respondentia (res-pon-den'shi-a), n. [NL. : see 
respondence.] A loan on the cargo of a vessel, 
payment being contingent on the safe arrival of 
the cargo at the port of destination the effect 
of such condition being to except the contract 
from the common usury laws. See bottomry. 
Commissions on money advanced, maritime interest 
on bottomry and respondentia, and the loss on exchanges, 
etc., are apportioned relatively to the gross sums expended 
on behalf of the several interests concerned. 
Encyc. Brit., in. 148. 
responsal (re-spon'sal), a. and n. [= F. re- 
sponsal, < LL'. responsalis, one who answers for 
another, a sponsor, apocrisiary, prop, adj., per- 
taining to an answer, < L. responsum, an an- 
swer, response: see response.] I.t a. Answer- 
able; responsible. 
They were both required to find sureties to be responsal, 
etc., whereupon they were troubled. 
Winthrop, Hist. New England, II. 347. 
H. n. 1. Response; answer; especially, a 
liturgical response. 
After some short praiers and refponsals, the mass-priest 
begs at the hands of God this great . . . favor. 
Brevint, Saul and Samuel, xiv. 
2. (a) In the Roman empire, a representative of 
a foreign church or prelate, who resided at the 
capital and conducted negotiations on ecclesi- 
astical matters; an apocrisiary. (6) A proc- 
tor for a monastery or for a member of it be- 
fore the bishop. 
response (re-spons'), n. [< ME. respounse, re- 
spons, < OF. respons, respuns, responce, F. re- 
ponse = Pr. respos = Cat. respons = Sp. Pg. re- 
sponse = It. risponso, responso, < L. responsum, 
an answer, neut. of responsus, pp. of respondere, 
answer: see respond.] 1. An answer or reply, 
or something in the nature of an answer or 
reply. 
What was his respons written, I ne sauh no herd. 
Rob. of Brunne, tr. of Langtoft, p. 98. (Latham.) 
There seems a vast psychological interval between an 
emotional response to the action of some grateful stimulus 
and the highly complex intellectual and emotional devel- 
