Is't A contraction of is it .

Issue (ĭsh"u) noun [ Old French issue , eissue , French issue , from Old French issir , eissir , to go out, Latin exire ; ex out of, from + ire to go, akin to Greek 'ie`nai , Sanskrit i , Goth. iddja went, used as prefect of gaggan to go. Confer Ambition , Count a nobleman, Commence , Errant , Exit , Eyre , Initial , Yede went.]

1. The act of passing or flowing out; a moving out from any inclosed place; egress; as, the issue of water from a pipe, of blood from a wound, of air from a bellows, of people from a house.

2. The act of sending out, or causing to go forth; delivery; issuance; as, the issue of an order from a commanding officer; the issue of money from a treasury.

3. That which passes, flows, or is sent out; the whole quantity sent forth or emitted at one time; as, an issue of bank notes; the daily issue of a newspaper.

4. Progeny; a child or children; offspring. In law, sometimes, in a general sense, all persons descended from a common ancestor; all lineal descendants.

If the king
Should without issue die.

Shak.

5. Produce of the earth, or profits of land, tenements, or other property; as, A conveyed to B all his right for a term of years, with all the issues , rents, and profits.

6. A discharge of flux, as of blood. Matt. ix. 20.

7. (Medicine) An artificial ulcer, usually made in the fleshy part of the arm or leg, to produce the secretion and discharge of pus for the relief of some affected part.

8. The final outcome or result; upshot; conclusion; event; hence, contest; test; trial.

Come forth to view
The issue of the exploit.

Shak.

While it is hot, I 'll put it to the issue .

Shak.

9. A point in debate or controversy on which the parties take affirmative and negative positions; a presentation of alternatives between which to choose or decide.

10. (Law) In pleading, a single material point of law or fact depending in the suit, which, being affirmed on the one side and denied on the other, is presented for determination. See General issue , under General , and Feigned issue , under Feigned . Blount. Cowell.

At issue , in controversy; disputed; opposing or contesting; hence, at variance; disagreeing; inconsistent.

As much at issue with the summer day
As if you brought a candle out of doors.

Mrs. Browning.

-- Bank of issue , Collateral issue , etc. See under Bank , Collateral , etc. -- Issue pea , a pea, or a similar round body, used to maintain irritation in a wound, and promote the secretion and discharge of pus. -- To join , or take , issue , to take opposing sides in a matter in controversy.

Issue intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Issued (ĭsh"ud); present participle & verbal noun Issuing .]

1. To pass or flow out; to run out, as from any inclosed place.

From it issued forced drops of blood.

Shak.

2. To go out; to rush out; to sally forth; as, troops issued from the town, and attacked the besiegers.

3. To proceed, as from a source; as, water issues from springs; light issues from the sun.

4. To proceed, as progeny; to be derived; to be descended; to spring.

Of thy sons that shall issue from thee.

2 Kings xx. 18.

5. To extend; to pass or open; as, the path issues into the highway.

6. To be produced as an effect or result; to grow or accrue; to arise; to proceed; as, rents and profits issuing from land, tenements, or a capital stock.

7. To close; to end; to terminate; to turn out; as, we know not how the cause will issue .

8. (Law) In pleading, to come to a point in fact or law, on which the parties join issue.

Issue (ĭsh"u) transitive verb
1. To send out; to put into circulation; as, to issue notes from a bank.

2. To deliver for use; as, to issue provisions.

3. To send out officially; to deliver by authority; as, to issue an order; to issue a writ.

Issueless adjective Having no issue or progeny; childless. "The heavens . . . have left me issueless ." Shak.

Issuer noun One who issues, emits, or publishes.

Isthmian adjective [ Latin Isthmius , Greek .... See Isthmus .] Of or pertaining to an isthmus, especially to the Isthmus of Corinth, in Greece.

Isthmian games (Gr. Antiq.) , one of the four great national festivals of Greece, celebrated on the Isthmus of Corinth in the spring of every alternate year. They consisted of all kinds of athletic sports, wrestling, boxing, racing on foot and in chariots, and also contests in music and poetry. The prize was a garland of pine leaves.

Isthmus noun ; plural Isthmuses . [ Latin isthmus , Greek 'isqmo`s a neck, a neck of land between two seas, an isthmus, especially the Isthmus of Corinth; probably from the root of 'ie`nai to go; confer Icelandic eið isthmus. See Issue .] (Geology) A neck or narrow slip of land by which two continents are connected, or by which a peninsula is united to the mainland; as, the Isthmus of Panama; the Isthmus of Suez, etc.

Isthmus of the fauces . (Anat.) See Fauces .

Istle noun Same as Ixtle .

Isuret noun [ Iso- + ur ea.] (Chemistry) An artificial nitrogenous base, isomeric with urea, and forming a white crystalline substance; -- called also isuretine .

It (ĭt) pron. [ Middle English it , hit , Anglo-Saxon hit ; confer Dutch het . √181. See He .] The neuter pronoun of the third person, corresponding to the masculine pronoun he and the feminine she , and having the same plural ( they , their or theirs , them ).

» The possessive form its is modern, being rarely found in the writings of Shakespeare and Milton, and not at all in the original King James's version of the Bible. During the transition from the regular his to the anomalous its , it was to some extent employed in the possessive without the case ending. See His , and He . In Dryden's time its had become quite established as the regular form.

The day present hath ever inough to do with it owne grief.

Genevan Test.

Do, child, go to it grandam, child.

Shak.

It knighthood shall do worse. It shall fright all it friends with borrowing letters.

B. Jonson.

» In the course of time, the nature of the neuter sign t in it , the form being found in but a few words, became misunderstood. Instead of being looked upon as an affix, it passed for part of the original word. Hence was formed from it the anomalous genitive its , superseding the Saxon his . Latham.

The fruit tree yielding fruit after his (its) kind.

Gen. i. 11.

It is used,


1. As a substance for any noun of the neuter gender; as, here is the book, take it home.

2. As a demonstrative, especially at the beginning of a sentence, pointing to that which is about to be stated, named, or mentioned, or referring to that which apparent or well known; as, I saw it was John.

It is I; be not afraid.

Matt. xiv. 27.

Peter heard that it was the Lord.

John xxi. 7.

Often, in such cases, as a substitute for a sentence or clause; as, it is thought he will come ; it is wrong to do this .

3. As an indefinite nominative for a impersonal verb; as, it snows; it rains.

4. As a substitute for such general terms as, the state of affairs, the condition of things, and the like; as, how is it with the sick man?

Think on me when it shall be well with thee.

Gen. xl. 14.

5. As an indefinite object after some intransitive verbs, or after a substantive used humorously as a verb; as, to foot it ( i. e. , to walk).

The Lacedemonians, at the Straits of Thermopylæ, when their arms failed them, fought it out with nails and teeth.

Dryden.

Whether the charmer sinner it , or saint it ,
If folly grows romantic, I must paint it.

Pope.

Its self . See Itself .

Ita palm (Botany) A magnificent species of palm ( Mauritia flexuosa ), growing near the Orinoco. The natives eat its fruit and buds, drink its sap, and make thread and cord from its fiber.

Itacism noun [ Confer French itacisme . See Etacism , and confer Iotacism .] (Greek Gram.) Pronunciation of η (eta) as the modern Greeks pronounce it, that is, like e in the English word be . This was the pronunciation advocated by Reuchlin and his followers, in opposition to the etacism of Erasmus. See Etacism .

In all such questions between ε and αι the confusing element of itacism comes in.

Alford.

Itacist noun [ Confer French itaciste .] One who is in favor of itacism.

Itacolumite noun [ From Itacolumi , a mountain of Brazil.] (Min.) A laminated, granular, siliceous rocks, often occurring in regions where the diamond is found.

Itaconic adjective [ From aconitic , by transposition of the letters.] (Chemistry) Pertaining to, or designating, an acid, C ₅ H ₆ O ₄ , which is obtained as a white crystalline substance by decomposing aconitic and other organic acids.

Itala noun [ Fem. of Latin Italus Italian.] An early Latin version of the Scriptures (the Old Testament was translated from the Septuagint, and was also called the Italic version ).

Italian adjective [ Confer French italien , Italian italiano . Confer Italic .] Of or pertaining to Italy, or to its people or language.

Italian cloth a light material of cotton and worsted; -- called also farmer's satin . -- Italian iron , a heater for fluting frills. -- Italian juice , Calabrian liquorice.

Italian noun
1. A native or inhabitant of Italy.

2. The language used in Italy, or by the Italians.

Italianate transitive verb [ Confer Italian italianare .] To render Italian, or conformable to Italian customs; to Italianize. [ R.] Ascham.

Italianate adjective Italianized; Italianated. "Apish, childish, and Italianate ." Marlowe.

Italianism noun
1. A word, phrase, or idiom, peculiar to the Italians; an Italicism.

2. Attachment to, or sympathy for, Italy.

Italianize intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Italianized ; present participle & verbal noun Italianizing .] [ Confer French italianiser , Italian italianizzare .]

1. To play the Italian; to speak Italian. Cotgrave.

2. To render Italian in any respect; to Italianate. "An Englishman Italianized ." Lowell.

Italic adjective [ Latin Italicus : confer French italique . Confer Italian .]

1. Relating to Italy or to its people.

2. Applied especially to a kind of type in which the letters do not stand upright, but slope toward the right; - - so called because dedicated to the States of Italy by the inventor, Aldus Manutius, about the year 1500.

Italic languages , the group or family of languages of ancient Italy. -- Italic order (Architecture) , the composite order. See Composite . - - Italic school , a term given to the Pythagorean and Eleatic philosophers, from the country where their doctrines were first promulgated. -- Italic version . See Itala .

Italic noun ; plural Italics (Print.) An Italic letter, character, or type (see Italic , adjective , 2.); -- often in the plural; as, the Italics are the author's. Italic letters are used to distinguish words for emphasis, importance, antithesis, etc. Also, collectively, Italic letters.

Italicism noun
1. A phrase or idiom peculiar to the Italian language; to Italianism.

2. The use of Italics.

Italicize transitive verb & i. [ imperfect & past participle Italicized ; present participle & verbal noun Italicizing .] To print in Italic characters; to underline written letters or words with a single line; as, to Italicize a word; Italicizes too much.

Itch (ĭch) intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Itched (ĭcht); present participle & verbal noun Itching .] [ Middle English icchen , ʒicchen , Anglo-Saxon giccan ; akin to Dutch jeuken , joken , German jucken , Old High German jucchen .]

1. To have an uneasy sensation in the skin, which inclines the person to scratch the part affected.

My mouth hath itched all this long day.

Chaucer.

2. To have a constant desire or teasing uneasiness; to long for; as, itching ears. "An itching palm." Shak.

Itch noun
1. (Medicine) An eruption of small, isolated, acuminated vesicles, produced by the entrance of a parasitic mite (the Sarcoptes scabei ), and attended with itching. It is transmissible by contact.

2. Any itching eruption.

3. A sensation in the skin occasioned (or resembling that occasioned) by the itch eruption; -- called also scabies , psora , etc.

4. A constant irritating desire.

An itch of being thought a divine king.

Dryden.

Baker's itch . See under Baker . - - Barber's itch , sycosis. -- Bricklayer's itch , an eczema of the hands attended with much itching, occurring among bricklayers. -- Grocer's itch , an itching eruption, being a variety of eczema, produced by the sugar mite ( Tyrogluphus sacchari ). -- Itch insect (Zoology) , a small parasitic mite ( Sarcoptes scabei ) which burrows and breeds beneath the human skin, thus causing the disease known as the itch. See Illust. in Append. -- Itch mite . (Zoology) Same as Itch insect , above. Also, other similar mites affecting the lower animals, as the horse and ox. -- Sugar baker's itch , a variety of eczema, due to the action of sugar upon the skin. -- Washerwoman's itch , eczema of the hands and arms, occurring among washerwomen.

Itchiness noun The state of being itchy.

Itchless adjective Free from itching.

Itchy adjective Infected with the itch, or with an itching sensation. Cowper.

Item adverb [ Latin See Iterate .] Also; as an additional article.

Item noun [ From Item , adverb ]

1. An article; a separate particular in an account; as, the items in a bill.

2. A hint; an innuendo. [ Obsolete]

A secret item was given to some of the bishops . . . to absent themselves.

Fuller.

3. A short article in a newspaper; a paragraph; as, an item concerning the weather.

Item transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Itemed ; present participle & verbal noun Iteming .] To make a note or memorandum of.

I have itemed it in my memory.

Addison.

Itemize transitive verb To state in items, or by particulars; as, to itemize the cost of a railroad. [ Local, U. S.]

Iter noun [ Latin See Eyre .] (Anat.) A passage; esp., the passage between the third and fourth ventricles in the brain; the aqueduct of Sylvius.

Iterable adjective [ Latin iterabilis . See Iterate .] Capable of being iterated or repeated. [ Obsolete]

Iterance noun Iteration. [ Obsolete]

Iterant adjective [ Latin iterans , present participle of iterare .] Repeating; iterating; as, an iterant echo. Bacon.

Iterate adjective [ Latin iteratus , past participle of iterare to repeat, from iterum again, prop. a compar. from the stem of is he, that; confer Latin ita so, item likewise, also, Sanskrit itara other, iti thus. Confer Identity , Item .] Uttered or done again; repeated. [ Obsolete] Bp. Gardiner.

Iterate transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Iterated ; present participle & verbal noun Iterating .] To utter or do a second time or many times; to repeat; as, to iterate advice.

Nor Eve to iterate
Her former trespass feared.

Milton.

Iterate adverb By way of iteration.

Iteration noun [ Latin iteratio .] Recital or performance a second time; repetition. Bacon.

What needs this iteration , woman?

Shak.

Iterative adjective [ Latin iterativus : confer French itératif .] Repeating. Cotgrave. -- It"er*a*tive*ly , adverb

Ithyphallic adjective [ Latin ithyphallicus , from ithyphallus , Greek ..., membrum virile erectum , or a figure thereof carried in the festivals of Bacchus.] Lustful; lewd; salacious; indecent; obscene.

Itineracy noun The act or practice of itinerating; itinerancy.

Itinerancy noun [ See Itinerant .]

1. A passing from place to place. Dr. H. More.

2. A discharge of official duty involving frequent change of residence; the custom or practice of discharging official duty in this way; also, a body of persons who thus discharge official duty.

Itinerant adjective [ Late Latin itinerans , -antis , present participle of itinerare to make a journey, from Latin iter , itineris , a walk, way, journey. See Errant , Issue .] Passing or traveling about a country; going or preaching on a circuit; wandering; not settled; as, an itinerant preacher; an itinerant peddler.

The king's own courts were then itinerant , being kept in the king's palace, and removing with his household in those royal progresses which he continually made.

Blackstone.

Itinerant adjective One who travels from place to place, particularly a preacher; one who is unsettled.

Glad to turn itinerant ,
To stroll and teach from town to town.

Hudibras.

Itinerantly adverb In an itinerant manner.