Geneagenesis noun [ Greek ... race + English genesis .] (Biol.) Alternate generation. See under Generation .

Genealogic adjective Genealogical.

Genealogical adjective [ Confer French généalogique .] Of or pertaining to genealogy; as, a genealogical table; genealogical order. -- Gen`e*a*log"ic*al*ly , adverb

Genealogical tree , a family lineage or genealogy drawn out under the form of a tree and its branches.

Genealogist noun [ Confer French généalogiste .] One who traces genealogies or the descent of persons or families.

Genealogize intransitive verb To investigate, or relate the history of, descents.

Genealogy noun ; plural Genealogies . [ Middle English genealogi , genelogie , Old French genelogie , French généalogie , Latin genealogia , from Greek ...; ... birth, race, descent (akin to Latin genus ) + ... discourse.]

1. An account or history of the descent of a person or family from an ancestor; enumeration of ancestors and their children in the natural order of succession; a pedigree.

2. Regular descent of a person or family from a progenitor; pedigree; lineage.

Genearch noun [ Greek ...; ... race + ... a leader.] The chief of a family or tribe.

Genera noun plural See Genus .

Generability noun Capability of being generated. Johnstone.

Generable adjective [ Latin generabilis .] Capable of being generated or produced. Bentley.

General adjective [ French général , from Latin generalis . See Genus .]
1. Relating to a genus or kind; pertaining to a whole class or order; as, a general law of animal or vegetable economy.

2. Comprehending many species or individuals; not special or particular; including all particulars; as, a general inference or conclusion.

3. Not restrained or limited to a precise import; not specific; vague; indefinite; lax in signification; as, a loose and general expression.

4. Common to many, or the greatest number; widely spread; prevalent; extensive, though not universal; as, a general opinion; a general custom.

This general applause and cheerful shout
Argue your wisdom and your love to Richard.

Shak.

5. Having a relation to all; common to the whole; as, Adam, our general sire. Milton.

6. As a whole; in gross; for the most part.

His general behavior vain, ridiculous.

Shak.

7. Usual; common, on most occasions; as, his general habit or method.

» The word general , annexed to a name of office, usually denotes chief or superior ; as, attorney- general ; adjutant general ; commissary general ; quartermaster general ; vicar- general , etc.

General agent (Law) , an agent whom a principal employs to transact all his business of a particular kind, or to act in his affairs generally. -- General assembly . See the Note under Assembly . -- General average , General Court . See under Average , Court . -- General court-martial (Mil.) , the highest military and naval judicial tribunal. -- General dealer (Com.) , a shopkeeper who deals in all articles in common use. -- General demurrer (Law) , a demurrer which objects to a pleading in general terms, as insufficient, without specifying the defects. Abbott. -- General epistle , a canonical epistle. -- General guides (Mil.) , two sergeants (called the right , and the left , general guide ) posted opposite the right and left flanks of an infantry battalion, to preserve accuracy in marching. Farrow. -- General hospitals (Mil.) , hospitals established to receive sick and wounded sent from the field hospitals. Farrow. General issue (Law) , an issue made by a general plea, which traverses the whole declaration or indictment at once, without offering any special matter to evade it. Bouvier. Burrill. -- General lien (Law) , a right to detain a chattel, etc., until payment is made of any balance due on a general account. -- General officer (Mil.) , any officer having a rank above that of colonel. -- General orders (Mil.) , orders from headquarters published to the whole command. -- General practitioner , in the United States, one who practices medicine in all its branches without confining himself to any specialty; in England, one who practices both as physician and as surgeon. -- General ship , a ship not chartered or let to particular parties. -- General term (Logic) , a term which is the sign of a general conception or notion. -- General verdict (Law) , the ordinary comprehensive verdict in civil actions, "for the plaintiff" or "for the defendant". Burrill. -- General warrant (Law) , a warrant, now illegal, to apprehend suspected persons, without naming individuals.

Syn. General , Common , Universal . Common denotes primarily that in which many share; and hence, that which is often met with. General is stronger, denoting that which pertains to a majority of the individuals which compose a genus , or whole. Universal , that which pertains to all without exception. To be able to read and write is so common an attainment in the United States, that we may pronounce it general , though by no means universal .

General noun [ French général . See General ., adjective ]

1. The whole; the total; that which comprehends or relates to all, or the chief part; -- opposed to particular .

In particulars our knowledge begins, and so spreads itself by degrees to generals .

Locke.

2. (Mil.) One of the chief military officers of a government or country; the commander of an army, of a body of men not less than a brigade. In European armies, the highest military rank next below field marshal.

» In the United States the office of General of the Army has been created by temporary laws, and has been held only by Generals U. S. Grant, W. T. Sherman, and P. H. Sheridan. Popularly, the title General is given to various general officers , as General, Lieutenant general, Major general, Brigadier general, Commissary general, etc. See Brigadier general , Lieutenant general , Major general , in the Vocabulary.

3. (Mil.) The roll of the drum which calls the troops together; as, to beat the general .

4. (Eccl.) The chief of an order of monks, or of all the houses or congregations under the same rule.

5. The public; the people; the vulgar. [ Obsolete] Shak.

In general , in the main; for the most part.

Generalia noun plural [ Neut. plural, from Latin generalis .] Generalities; general terms. J. S. Mill.

Generalissimo noun [ Italian , superl. of generale general. See General , adjective ] The chief commander of an army; especially, the commander in chief of an army consisting of two or more grand divisions under separate commanders; -- a title used in most foreign countries.

Generality noun ; plural Generalities . [ Latin generalitas : confer French généralité . Confer Generalty .]

1. The state of being general; the quality of including species or particulars. Hooker.

2. That which is general; that which lacks specificalness, practicalness, or application; a general or vague statement or phrase.

Let us descend from generalities to particulars.

Landor.

The glittering and sounding generalities of natural right which make up the Declaration of Independence.

R. Choate.

3. The main body; the bulk; the greatest part; as, the generality of a nation, or of mankind.

Generalizable adjective Capable of being generalized, or reduced to a general form of statement, or brought under a general rule.

Extreme cases are . . . not generalizable .

Coleridge

Generalization noun [ Confer French généralisation .]

1. The act or process of generalizing; the act of bringing individuals or particulars under a genus or class; deduction of a general principle from particulars.

Generalization is only the apprehension of the one in the many.

Sir W. Hamilton.

2. A general inference.

Generalize transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Generalized ; present participle & verbal noun Generalizing .] [ Confer French généraliser .]

1. To bring under a genus or under genera; to view in relation to a genus or to genera.

Copernicus generalized the celestial motions by merely referring them to the moon's motion. Newton generalized them still more by referring this last to the motion of a stone through the air.

W. Nicholson.

2. To apply to other genera or classes; to use with a more extensive application; to extend so as to include all special cases; to make universal in application, as a formula or rule.

When a fact is generalized , our discontent is quited, and we consider the generality itself as tantamount to an explanation.

Sir W. Hamilton.

3. To derive or deduce (a general conception, or a general principle) from particulars.

A mere conclusion generalized from a great multitude of facts.

Coleridge.

Generalize intransitive verb To form into a genus; to view objects in their relations to a genus or class; to take general or comprehensive views.

Generalized adjective (Zoology) Comprising structural characters which are separated in more specialized forms; synthetic; as, a generalized type.

Generalizer noun One who takes general or comprehensive views. Tyndall.

Generally adverb
1. In general; commonly; extensively, though not universally; most frequently.

2. In a general way, or in general relation; in the main; upon the whole; comprehensively.

Generally speaking, they live very quietly.

Addison.

3. Collectively; as a whole; without omissions. [ Obsolete]

I counsel that all Israel be generally gathered unto thee.

2 Sam. xvii. ll.

Generalness noun The condition or quality of being general; frequency; commonness. Sir P. Sidney.

Generalship noun
1. The office of a general; the exercise of the functions of a general; -- sometimes, with the possessive pronoun, the personality of a general.

Your generalship puts me in mind of Prince Eugene.

Goldsmith.

2. Military skill in a general officer or commander.

3. Fig.: Leadership; management.

An artful stroke of generalship in Trim to raise a dust.

Sterne.

Generalty noun Generality. [ R.] Sir M. Hale.

Generant adjective [ Latin generans , present participle of generare .] Generative; producing ; esp. (Geom.) , acting as a generant.

Generant noun
1. That which generates. Glanvill.

2. (Geom.) A generatrix.

Generate transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Generated ; present participle & verbal noun Generating .] [ Latin generatus , past participle of generare to generate, from genus . See Genus , Gender .]

1. To beget; to procreate; to propagate; to produce (a being similar to the parent); to engender; as, every animal generates its own species.

2. To cause to be; to bring into life. Milton.

3. To originate, especially by a vital or chemical process; to produce; to cause.

Whatever generates a quantity of good chyle must likewise generate milk.

Arbuthnot.

4. (Math.) To trace out, as a line, figure, or solid, by the motion of a point or a magnitude of inferior order.

Generation noun [ Middle English generacioun , French génération , from Latin generatio .]
1. The act of generating or begetting; procreation, as of animals.

2. Origination by some process, mathematical, chemical, or vital; production; formation; as, the generation of sounds, of gases, of curves, etc.

3. That which is generated or brought forth; progeny; offspiring.

4. A single step or stage in the succession of natural descent; a rank or remove in genealogy. Hence: The body of those who are of the same genealogical rank or remove from an ancestor; the mass of beings living at one period; also, the average lifetime of man, or the ordinary period of time at which one rank follows another, or father is succeeded by child, usually assumed to be one third of a century; an age.

This is the book of the generations of Adam.

Gen. v. 1.

Ye shall remain there [ in Babylon] many years, and for a long season, namely, seven generations .

Baruch vi. 3.

All generations and ages of the Christian church.

Hooker.

5. Race; kind; family; breed; stock.

Thy mother's of my generation ; what's she, if I be a dog?

Shak.

6. (Geom.) The formation or production of any geometrical magnitude, as a line, a surface, a solid, by the motion, in accordance with a mathematical law, of a point or a magnitude; as, the generation of a line or curve by the motion of a point, of a surface by a line, a sphere by a semicircle, etc.

7. (Biol.) The aggregate of the functions and phenomene which attend reproduction.

» There are four modes of generation in the animal kingdom: scissiparity or by fissiparous generation, gemmiparity or by budding, germiparity or by germs, and oviparity or by ova.

Alternate generation (Biol.) , alternation of sexual with asexual generation, in which the products of one process differ from those of the other, -- a form of reproduction common both to animal and vegetable organisms. In the simplest form, the organism arising from sexual generation produces offspiring unlike itself, agamogenetically. These, however, in time acquire reproductive organs, and from their impregnated germs the original parent form is reproduced. In more complicated cases, the first series of organisms produced agamogenetically may give rise to others by a like process, and these in turn to still other generations. Ultimately, however, a generation is formed which develops sexual organs, and the original form is reproduced. -- Spontaneous generation (Biol.) , the fancied production of living organisms without previously existing parents from inorganic matter, or from decomposing organic matter, a notion which at one time had many supporters; abiogenesis.

Generative adjective [ Confer French génératif .] Having the power of generating, propagating, originating, or producing. "That generative particle." Bentley.

Generator noun [ Latin ]
1. One who, or that which, generates, begets, causes, or produces.

2. An apparatus in which vapor or gas is formed from a liquid or solid by means of heat or chemical process, as a steam boiler, gas retort, or vessel for generating carbonic acid gas, etc.

3. (Mus.) The principal sound or sounds by which others are produced; the fundamental note or root of the common chord; -- called also generating tone .

Generator noun (Electricity) Any machine that transforms mechanical into electrical energy; a dynamo.

Generatrix noun ; plural Latin Generatrices , English Generatrixes . [ Latin ] (Geom.) That which generates; the point, or the mathematical magnitude, which, by its motion, generates another magnitude, as a line, surface, or solid; -- called also describent .

Generic, Generical adjective [ Latin genus , generis , race, kind: confer French générique . See Gender .]

1. (Biol.) Pertaining to a genus or kind; relating to a genus, as distinct from a species, or from another genus; as, a generic description; a generic difference; a generic name.

2. Very comprehensive; pertaining or appropriate to large classes or their characteristics; -- opposed to specific .

Generically adverb With regard to a genus, or an extensive class; as, an animal generically distinct from another, or two animals or plants generically allied.

Genericalness noun The quality of being generic.

Generification noun [ Latin genus kind, class + -ficare (in comp.) to make. See -fy .] The act or process of generalizing.

Out of this the universal is elaborated by generification .

Sir W. Hamilton.

Generosity noun [ Latin generositas : confer French générosité .]
1. Noble birth. [ Obsolete] Harris (Voyages).

2. The quality of being noble; noble- mindedness.

Generosity is in nothing more seen than in a candid estimation of other men's virtues and good qualities.

Barrow.

3. Liberality in giving; munificence.

Syn. -- Magnanimity; liberality.

Generous adjective [ French généreux , from Latin generous of noble birth, noble, excellent, magnanimous, from genus birth, race: confer Italian generoso . See 2d Gender .]

1. Of honorable birth or origin; highborn. [ Obsolete]

The generous and gravest citizens.

Shak.

2. Exhibiting those qualities which are popularly reregarded as belonging to high birth; noble; honorable; magnanimous; spirited; courageous. "The generous critic." Pope. "His generous spouse." Pope. "A generous pack [ of hounds]." Addison.

3. Open-handed; free to give; not close or niggardly; munificent; as, a generous friend or father.

4. Characterized by generosity; abundant; overflowing; as, a generous table. Swift.

5. Full of spirit or strength; stimulating; exalting; as, generous wine.

Syn. -- Magnanimous; bountiful. See Liberal .

-- Gen"er*ous*ly , adverb -- Gen"er*ous*ness , noun

Genesee epoch (Geol.) The closing subdivision of the Hamilton period in the American Devonian system; - - so called because the formations of this period crop out in Genesee , New York.

Genesial adjective Of or relating to generation.

Genesiolgy noun [ Greek ... birth + -logy .] The doctrine or science of generation.

Genesis noun [ Latin , from Greek ge`nesis , from the root of gi`gnesqai to beget, be born; akin to Latin genus birth, race. See Gender .]

1. The act of producing, or giving birth or origin to anything; the process or mode of originating; production; formation; origination.

The origin and genesis of poor Sterling's club.

Carlyle.

2. The first book of the Old Testament; -- so called by the Greek translators, from its containing the history of the creation of the world and of the human race.

3. (Geom.) Same as Generation .

Genet (jĕn"ĕt or je*nĕt"), Ge*nette" (je*nĕt") noun [ French genette , Spanish gineta , from Arabic jarneit .]
1. (Zoology) One of several species of small Carnivora of the genus Genetta , allied to the civets, but having the scent glands less developed, and without a pouch.

» The common genet ( Genetta vulgaris ) of Southern Europe, Asia Minor, and North Africa, is dark gray, spotted with black. The long tail is banded with black and white. The Cape genet ( G. felina ), and the berbe ( G. pardina ), are related African species.

2. The fur of the common genet ( Genetta vulgaris ); also, any skin dressed in imitation of this fur.

Genet noun [ See Jennet .] A small-sized, well-proportioned, Spanish horse; a jennet. Shak.

Genethliac adjective [ Latin genethliacus , Greek ..., from ... belonging to one's birth, gene`qlh birth, from gi`gnesqai to be born.] Pertaining to nativities; calculated by astrologers; showing position of stars at one's birth. Howell.

Genethliac noun
1. A birthday poem.

2. One skilled in genethliacs.

Genethliacal adjective Genethliac.

Genethliacs noun The science of calculating nativities, or predicting the future events of life from the stars which preside at birth. Johnson.

Genethlialogy noun [ Greek geneqlhalogi`a astrology; gene`qlh birth + lo`gos discourse.] Divination as to the destinies of one newly born; the act or art of casting nativities; astrology.