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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 (gcide)

Negative \Neg"a*tive\ (n[e^]g"[.a]*t[i^]v), a. [F. n['e]gatif,
L. negativus, fr. negare to deny. See {Negation}.]
1. Denying; implying, containing, or asserting denial,
negation or refusal; returning the answer no to an inquiry
or request; refusing assent; as, a negative answer; a
negative opinion; -- opposed to {affirmative}.
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If thou wilt confess,
Or else be impudently negative. --Shak.
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Denying me any power of a negative voice. --Eikon
Basilike.
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Something between an affirmative bow and a negative
shake. --Dickens.
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2. Not positive; without affirmative statement or
demonstration; indirect; consisting in the absence of
something; privative; as, a negative argument; negative
evidence; a negative morality; negative criticism.
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There in another way of denying Christ, . . . which
is negative, when we do not acknowledge and confess
him. --South.
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3. (Logic) Asserting absence of connection between a subject
and a predicate; as, a negative proposition.
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4. (Photog.) Of or pertaining to a picture upon glass or
other material, in which the lights and shades of the
original, and the relations of right and left, are
reversed.
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5. (Chem.) Metalloidal; nonmetallic; -- contrasted with
{positive} or {basic}; as, the nitro group is negative.
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Note: This word, derived from electro-negative, is now
commonly used in a more general sense, when acidiferous
is the intended signification.
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{Negative crystal}.
(a) A cavity in a mineral mass, having the form of a
crystal.
(b) A crystal which has the power of negative double
refraction. See {refraction}.

{negative electricity} (Elec.), the kind of electricity which
is developed upon resin or ebonite when rubbed, or which
appears at that pole of a voltaic battery which is
connected with the plate most attacked by the exciting
liquid; -- formerly called {resinous electricity}. Opposed
to {positive electricity}. Formerly, according to
Franklin's theory of a single electric fluid, negative
electricity was supposed to be electricity in a degree
below saturation, or the natural amount for a given body.
See {Electricity}.

{Negative eyepiece}. (Opt.) see under {Eyepiece}.

{Negative quantity} (Alg.), a quantity preceded by the
negative sign, or which stands in the relation indicated
by this sign to some other quantity. See {Negative sign}
(below).

{Negative rotation}, right-handed rotation. See
{Right-handed}, 3.

{Negative sign}, the sign -, or {minus} (opposed in
signification to , or {plus}), indicating that the
quantity to which it is prefixed is to be subtracted from
the preceding quantity, or is to be reckoned from zero or
cipher in the opposite direction to that of quanties
having the sign plus either expressed or understood; thus,
in a - b, b is to be substracted from a, or regarded as
opposite to it in value; and -10[deg] on a thermometer
means 10[deg] below the zero of the scale.
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Negative \Neg"a*tive\ (n[e^]g"[.a]*t[i^]v), n. [Cf. F.
n['e]gative.]
1. A proposition by which something is denied or forbidden; a
conception or term formed by prefixing the negative
particle to one which is positive; an opposite or
contradictory term or conception.
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This is a known rule in divinity, that there is no
command that runs in negatives but couches under it
a positive duty. --South.
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2. A word used in denial or refusal; as, not, no.
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Note: In Old England two or more negatives were often joined
together for the sake of emphasis, whereas now such
expressions are considered ungrammatical, being chiefly
heard in iliterate speech. A double negative is now
sometimes used as nearly or quite equivalent to an
affirmative.
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No wine ne drank she, neither white nor red.
--Chaucer.
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These eyes that never did nor never shall
So much as frown on you. --Shak.
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3. The refusal or withholding of assents; veto.
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If a kind without his kingdom be, in a civil sense,
nothing, then . . . his negative is as good as
nothing. --Milton.
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4. That side of a question which denies or refuses, or which
is taken by an opposing or denying party; the relation or
position of denial or opposition; as, the question was
decided in the negative.
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5. (Photog.) A picture upon glass or other material, in which
the light portions of the original are represented in some
opaque material (usually reduced silver), and the dark
portions by the uncovered and transparent or
semitransparent ground of the picture.
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Note: A negative is chiefly used for producing photographs by
means of passing light through it and acting upon
sensitized paper, thus producing on the paper a
positive picture.
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6. (Elect.) The negative plate of a voltaic or electrolytic
cell.
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{Negative pregnant} (Law), a negation which implies an
affirmation.
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Negative \Neg"a*tive\ (n[e^]g"[.a]*t[i^]v), v. t. [imp. & p. p.
{Negatived} (n[e^]g"[.a]*t[i^]vd); p. pr. & vb. n.
{Negativing}.]
1. To prove unreal or untrue; to disprove.
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The omission or infrequency of such recitals does
not negative the existence of miracles. --Paley.
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2. To reject by vote; to refuse to enact or sanction; as, the
Senate negatived the bill.
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3. To neutralize the force of; to counteract.
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eyepiece \eye"piece`\ eye-piece \eye"-piece`\, n. (Opt.)
The lens, or combination of lenses, at the eye end of a
microscope, telescope or other optical instrument, through
which the image formed by the mirror or object glass is
viewed.

Syn: ocular.
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{Collimating eyepiece}. See under {Collimate}.

{Negative}, or {Huyghenian}, {eyepiece}, an eyepiece
consisting of two plano-convex lenses with their curved
surfaces turned toward the object glass, and separated
from each other by about half the sum of their focal
distances, the image viewed by the eye being formed
between the two lenses. it was devised by Huyghens, who
applied it to the telescope. Campani applied it to the
microscope, whence it is sometimes called {Campani's
eyepiece}.

{Positive eyepiece}, an eyepiece consisting of two
plano-convex lenses placed with their curved surfaces
toward each other, and separated by a distance somewhat
less than the focal distance of the one nearest eye, the
image of the object viewed being beyond both lenses; --
called also, from the name of the inventor, {Ramsden's
eyepiece}.

{terrestrial}, or {Erecting eyepiece}, an eyepiece used in
telescopes for viewing terrestrial objects, consisting of
three, or usually four, lenses, so arranged as to present
the image of the object viewed in an erect position.
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