Eclogue Ec"logue noun [ Latin ecloga , Greek ... a selection, choice extracts, from ... to pick out, choose out; ... out + ... to gather, choose: confer French égloque , écloque . See Ex- , and Legend .] A pastoral poem, in which shepherds are introduced conversing with each other; a bucolic; an idyl; as, the Ecloques of Virgil, from which the modern usage of the word has been established.

Economic E`co·nom"ic (?; 277), E`co*nom"ic*al adjective [ French économique , Latin oeconomicus orderly, methodical, Greek ... economical. See Economy .] 1. Pertaining to the household; domestic. "In this economical misfortune [ of ill- assorted matrimony.]" Milton. 2. Relating to domestic economy, or to the management of household affairs.

And doth employ her economic art
And busy care, her household to preserve.

Sir J. Davies. 3. Managing with frugality; guarding against waste or unnecessary expense; careful and frugal in management and in expenditure; -- said of character or habits.

Just rich enough, with economic care,
To save a pittance.

Harte. 4. Managed with frugality; not marked with waste or extravagance; frugal; -- said of acts; saving; as, an economical use of money or of time. 5. Relating to the means of living, or the resources and wealth of a country; relating to political economy; as, economic purposes; economical truths.

These matters economical and political.

J. C. Shairp.

There was no economical distress in England to prompt the enterprises of colonization.

Palfrey.

Economic questions, such as money, usury, taxes, lands, and the employment of the people.

H. C. Baird. 6. Regulative; relating to the adaptation of means to an end. Grew. » Economical is the usual form when meaning frugal, saving; economic is the form commonly used when meaning pertaining to the management of a household, or of public affairs.

Economically E`co·nom"ic·al·ly adverb With economy; with careful management; with prudence in expenditure.

Economics E`co·nom"ics (ē`konŏm"ĭks) noun [ Greek ta` o'ikonomika` , equiv. to "h o'ikonomi`a . See Economic .] 1. The science of household affairs, or of domestic management. 2. Political economy; the science of the utilities or the useful application of wealth or material resources. See Political economy , under Political . "In politics and economics ." V. Knox.

Economist E·con"o·mist noun [ Confer French économiste .] 1. One who economizes, or manages domestic or other concerns with frugality; one who expends money, time, or labor, judiciously, and without waste. " Economists even to parsimony." Burke. 2. One who is conversant with political economy; a student of economics.

Economization E·con`o·mi·za"tion noun The act or practice of using to the best effect. [ R.] H. Spenser.

Economize E·con"o·mize (e*kŏn"o*mīz) transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Economized ; present participle & verbal noun Economizing .] [ Confer French économiser .] To manage with economy; to use with prudence; to expend with frugality; as, to economize one's income. [ Written also economise .]

Expenses in the city were to be economized .

Jowett (Thucyd. ).

Calculating how to economize time.

W. Irving.

Economize E·con"o·mize intransitive verb To be prudently sparing in expenditure; to be frugal and saving; as, to economize in order to grow rich. [ Written also economise .] Milton.

Economizer E·con"o·mi`zer noun 1. One who, or that which, economizes. 2. Specifically: (Steam Boilers) An arrangement of pipes for heating feed water by waste heat in the gases passing to the chimney.

Economy E·con"o·my (-mȳ) noun ; plural Economies . [ French économie , Latin oeconomia household management, from Greek o'ikonomi`a , from o'ikono`mos one managing a household; o'i^kos house (akin to Latin vicus village, English vicinity ) + no`mos usage, law, rule, from ne`mein to distribute, manage. See Vicinity , Nomad .] 1. The management of domestic affairs; the regulation and government of household matters; especially as they concern expense or disbursement; as, a careful economy .

Himself busy in charge of the household economies .

Froude. 2. Orderly arrangement and management of the internal affairs of a state or of any establishment kept up by production and consumption; esp., such management as directly concerns wealth; as, political economy . 3. The system of rules and regulations by which anything is managed; orderly system of regulating the distribution and uses of parts, conceived as the result of wise and economical adaptation in the author, whether human or divine; as, the animal or vegetable economy ; the economy of a poem; the Jewish economy .

The position which they [ the verb and adjective] hold in the general economy of language.

Earle.

In the Greek poets, as also in Plautus, we shall see the economy . . . of poems better observed than in Terence.

B. Jonson.

The Jews already had a Sabbath, which, as citizens and subjects of that economy , they were obliged to keep.

Paley. 4. Thrifty and frugal housekeeping; management without loss or waste; frugality in expenditure; prudence and disposition to save; as, a housekeeper accustomed to economy but not to parsimony. Political economy . See under Political . Syn. -- Economy , Frugality , Parsimony . Economy avoids all waste and extravagance, and applies money to the best advantage; frugality cuts off indulgences, and proceeds on a system of saving. The latter conveys the idea of not using or spending superfluously, and is opposed to lavishness or profusion . Frugality is usually applied to matters of consumption, and commonly points to simplicity of manners; parsimony is frugality carried to an extreme, involving meanness of spirit, and a sordid mode of living. Economy is a virtue, and parsimony a vice.

I have no other notion of economy than that it is the parent to liberty and ease.

Swift.

The father was more given to frugality , and the son to riotousness [ luxuriousness].

Golding.

Écorché É`cor`ché" noun [ French] (Fine Arts) A manikin, or image, representing an animal, especially man, with the skin removed so that the muscles are exposed for purposes of study.

Écossaise É`cos`saise" noun [ French] (Mus.) A dancing tune in the Scotch style.

Ecostate E·cos"tate adjective [ Prefix e- + costate .] (Botany) Having no ribs or nerves; -- said of a leaf.

Écoute É`coute" noun [ French, a listening place.] (Mil.) One of the small galleries run out in front of the glacis. They serve to annoy the enemy's miners.

Ecphasis Ec"pha·sis noun [ New Latin , from Greek ..., from ... to speak out.] (Rhet.) An explicit declaration.

Ecphonema Ec`pho·ne"ma noun [ New Latin , from Greek ... a thing called out, from ... to cry out; 'ek out + ... voice.] (Rhet.) A breaking out with some interjectional particle.

Ecphoneme Ec"pho·neme noun [ See Ecphonema .] A mark (!) used to indicate an exclamation. G. Brown.

Ecphonesis Ec`pho·ne"sis noun [ New Latin , from Greek .... See Ecphonema .] (Rhet.) An animated or passionate exclamation.

The feelings by the ecphonesis are very various.

Gibbs.

Ecphractic Ec·phrac"tic adjective [ Greek ..., from ... to open; 'ek out + ... to block up: confer French ecphractique .] (Medicine) Serving to dissolve or attenuate viscid matter, and so to remove obstructions; deobstruent. -- noun An ecphractic medicine. Harvey.

Écrasement É`crase`ment" noun [ French] (Surg.) The operation performed with an écraseur.

Écraseur É`cra`seur" noun [ French, from écraser to crush.] (Surg.) An instrument intended to replace the knife in many operations, the parts operated on being severed by the crushing effect produced by the gradual tightening of a steel chain, so that hemorrhage rarely follows.

Écru É`cru" adjective [ French, from Latin crudus raw.] Having the color or appearance of unbleached stuff, as silk, linen, or the like.

Ecstasy Ec"sta·sy noun ; plural Ecstasies . [ French extase , Latin ecstasis , from Greek ..., from ... to put out of place, derange; ... = 'ek out + ... to set, stand. See Ex- , and Stand .] [ Also written extasy .] 1. The state of being beside one's self or rapt out of one's self; a state in which the mind is elevated above the reach of ordinary impressions, as when under the influence of overpowering emotion; an extraordinary elevation of the spirit, as when the soul, unconscious of sensible objects, is supposed to contemplate heavenly mysteries.

Like a mad prophet in an ecstasy .

Dryden.

This is the very ecstasy of love.

Shak. 2. Excessive and overmastering joy or enthusiasm; rapture; enthusiastic delight.

He on the tender grass
Would sit, and hearken even to ecstasy .

Milton. 3. Violent distraction of mind; violent emotion; excessive grief of anxiety; insanity; madness. [ Obsolete]

That unmatched form and feature of blown youth
Blasted with ecstasy .

Shak.

Our words will but increase his ecstasy .

Marlowe. 4. (Medicine) A state which consists in total suspension of sensibility, of voluntary motion, and largely of mental power. The body is erect and inflexible; the pulsation and breathing are not affected. Mayne.

Ecstasy Ec"sta·sy transitive verb To fill ecstasy, or with rapture or enthusiasm. [ Obsolete]

The most ecstasied order of holy . . . spirits.

Jer. Taylor.

Ecstatic Ec·stat"ic adjective [ Greek ..., from ...: confer French extatique . See Ecstasy , noun ] 1. Pertaining to, or caused by, ecstasy or excessive emotion; of the nature, or in a state, of ecstasy; as, ecstatic gaze; ecstatic trance.

This ecstatic fit of love and jealousy.

Hammond. 2. Delightful beyond measure; rapturous; ravishing; as, ecstatic bliss or joy.

Ecstatic Ec·stat"ic noun An enthusiast. [ R.] Gauden.

Ecstatical Ec·stat"ic·al adjective 1. Ecstatic. Bp. Stillingfleet. 2. Tending to external objects. [ R.] Norris.

Ecstatically Ec·stat"ic·al·ly adverb Rapturously; ravishingly.

Ect-, Ecto- Ect-, Ec"to- [ Greek ... outside.] A combining form signifying without , outside , external .

Ectad Ec"tad adverb [ Ect- + Latin ad towards.] (Anat.) Toward the outside or surface; -- opposed to entad . B. G. Wilder.

Ectal Ec"tal adjective [ See Ect- .] (Anat.) Pertaining to, or situated near, the surface; outer; -- opposed to ental . B. G. Wilder.

Ectasia Ec·ta"si·a noun [ New Latin See Ectasis .] (Medicine) A dilatation of a hollow organ or of a canal.

Ectasis Ec"ta·sis noun [ Latin , from Greek ...; 'ek out + ... to stretch.] (Pros.) The lengthening of a syllable from short to long.

Ectental Ec·ten"tal adjective [ Greek ... outside + ... inside.] (Biol.) Relating to, or connected with, the two primitive germ layers, the ectoderm and ectoderm; as, the " ectental line" or line of juncture of the two layers in the segmentation of the ovum. C. S. Minot.

Ecteron Ec"ter·on noun [ See Ect- .] (Anat.) The external layer of the skin and mucous membranes; epithelium; ecderon. -- Ec`ter*on"ic adjective

Ectethmoid Ec·teth"moid adjective [ Ect- + ethmoid .] (Anat.) External to the ethmoid; prefrontal.

Ecthlipsis Ec·thlip"sis noun [ Latin , from Greek ..., from ... to squeeze out.] 1. The dropping out or suppression from a word of a consonant, with or without a vowel. 2. (Lat. Pros.) The elision of a final m , with the preceding vowel, before a word beginning with a vowel.

Ecthoreum Ec`tho·re"um noun ; plural Ecthorea . [ New Latin , from Greek ... to leap out; ek out + ..., ..., to leap, dart.] (Zoology) The slender, hollow thread of a nettling cell or cnida. See Nettling cell . [ Written also ecthoræum .]

Ecthyma Ec·thy"ma noun ; plural Ecthymata . [ New Latin , from Greek ... pimple, from ... to break out.] (Medicine) A cutaneous eruption, consisting of large, round pustules, upon an indurated and inflamed base. Dunglison.

Ecto- Ec"to- See Ect- .

Ectoblast Ec"to·blast noun [ Ecto- + Greek ... bud, germ.] (Biol.) (a) The outer layer of the blastoderm; the epiblast; the ectoderm. (b) The outer envelope of a cell; the cell wall. Agassiz.

Ectobronchium Ec`to·bron"chi·um noun ; plural Ectobronchia . [ New Latin See Ecto- , and Bronchia .] (Anat.) One of the dorsal branches of the main bronchi in the lungs of birds.

Ectocuneriform, Ectocuniform Ec`to·cu·ne"ri·form, Ec`to·cu"ni·form noun [ Ecto- + cuneiform , cuniform .] (Anat.) One of the bones of the tarsus. See Cuneiform .

Ectocyst Ec"to·cyst noun [ Ecto- + Greek ... bladder.] (Zoology) The outside covering of the Bryozoa.

Ectoderm Ec"to·derm noun [ Ecto- + - derm .] (Biol.) (a) The outer layer of the blastoderm; epiblast. (b) The external skin or outer layer of an animal or plant, this being formed in an animal from the epiblast. See Illust. of Blastoderm .

Ectodermal, Ectodermic Ec`to·der"mal, Ec`to·der"mic adjective (Biol.) Of or relating to the ectoderm.

Ectolecithal Ec`to·lec"i·thal adjective [ Ecto- + Greek ... the yolk of an egg.] (Biol.) Having the food yolk, at the commencement of segmentation, in a peripheral position, and the cleavage process confined to the center of the egg; as, ectolecithal ova.

Ectomere Ec"to·mere noun [ Ecto- + - mere .] (Biol.) The more transparent cells, which finally become external, in many segmenting ova, as those of mammals.

Ectoparasite Ec`to·par"a·site noun (Zoology) Any parasite which lives on the exterior of animals; -- opposed to endoparasite . -- Ec`to*par`a*sit"ic adjective

Ectopia Ec·to"pi·a noun [ New Latin , from Greek 'ek out + ... place.] (Medicine) A morbid displacement of parts, especially such as is congenial; as, ectopia of the heart, or of the bladder.