| imagination | 1. The imagine-making power of the mind; the power to create or reproduce ideally an object of sense previously perceived; the power to call up mental imagines. "Our simple apprehension of corporeal objects, if present, is sense; if absent, is imagination." (Glanvill) "Imagination is of three kinds: joined with belief of that which is to come; joined with memory of that which is past; and of things present, or as if they were present." (Bacon) 2. The representative power; the power to reconstruct or recombine the materials furnished by direct apprehension; the complex faculty usually termed the plastic or creative power; the fancy. "The imagination of common language the productive imagination of philosophers is nothing but the representative process plus the process to which I would give the name of the "comparative."" (Sir W. Hamilton) "The power of the mind to decompose its conceptions, and to recombine the elements of them at its pleasure, is called its faculty of imagination." (I. Taylor) "The business of conception is to present us with an exact transcript of what we have felt or perceived. But we have moreover a power of modifying our conceptions, by combining the parts of different ones together, so as to form new wholes of our creation. I shall employ the word imagination to express this power." (Stewart) 3. The power to recombine the materials furnished by experience or memory, for the accomplishment of an elevated purpose; the power of conceiving and expressing the ideal. "The lunatic, the lover, and the poet Are of imagination all compact . . . The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling, Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven, And as imagination bodies forth The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing A local habitation and a name." (Shak) 4. A mental image formed by the action of the imagination as a faculty; a conception; a notion. Synonym: Conception, idea, conceit, fancy, device, origination, invention, scheme, design, purpose, contrivance. Imagination, Fancy. These words have, to a great extent, been interchanged by our best writers, and considered as strictly synonymous. A distinction, however, is now made between them which more fully exhibits their nature. Properly speaking, they are different exercises of the same general power the plastic or creative faculty. Imagination consists in taking parts of our conceptions and combining them into new forms and images more select, more striking, more delightful, more terrible, etc, than those of ordinary nature. It is the higher exercise of the two. It creates by laws more closely connected with the reason; it has strong emotion as its actuating and formative cause; it aims at results of a definite and weighty character. Milton's fiery lake, the debates of his Pandemonium, the exquisite scenes of his Paradise, are all products of the imagination. Fancy moves on a lighter wing; it is governed by laws of association which are more remote, and sometimes arbitrary or capricious. Hence the term fanciful, which exhibits fancy in its wilder flights. It has for its actuating spirit feelings of a lively, gay, and versatile character; it seeks to please by unexpected combinations of thought, startling contrasts, flashes of brilliant imagery, etc. Pope's Rape of the Lock is an exhibition of fancy which has scarcely its equal in the literature of any country. "This, for instance, Wordworth did in respect of the words 'imagination' and 'fancy.' Before he wrote, it was, I suppose, obscurely felt by most that in 'imagination' there was more of the earnest, in 'fancy' of the play of the spirit; that the first was a loftier faculty and gift than the second; yet for all this words were continually, and not without loss, confounded. He first, in the preface to his Lyrical Ballads, rendered it henceforth impossible that any one, who had read and mastered what he has written on the two words, should remain unconscious any longer of the important difference between them." . "The same power, which we should call fancy if employed on a production of a light nature, would be dignified with the title of imagination if shown on a grander scale." (C. J. Smith) Origin: OE. Imaginacionum, F. Imagination, fr. L. Imaginatio. See Imagine. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| active | Characterised by action, not passive, not expectant. (18 Nov 1997) |
| active acetate | <enzyme> Condensation product of coenzyme A and acetic acid, symbolised as CoAS~COCH3; intermediate in transfer of two-carbon fragment, notably in its entrance into the tricarboxylic acid cycle and in fatty acid synthesis. This coenzyme plays a huge role in intermediary metabolism, in which cells synthesise, break down or use nutrient molecules for energy production, growth, etc. Acetyl-coenzyme A synthase is found in bacteria and plants and catalyses the reaction in which acetate enters metabolic pathways and forms acetyl-coenzyme A. Synonym: acetyl-coenzyme A, active acetate. (05 Mar 2000) |
| active aldehyde | Any aldehyde derivative of thiamin pyrophosphate. (05 Mar 2000) |
| active anaphylaxis | Reaction following inoculation of antigen in a subject previously sensitised to the specific antigen, in contrast to passive anaphylaxis. (05 Mar 2000) |
| active biomass | <cell biology> The amount of a given culture that is actively growing. (06 May 1997) |
| active carbon dioxide | Activated carbon dioxide, a complex of N-carboxybiotin (biotin + CO2) and an enzyme; the form in which carbon dioxide is added to other molecules in carboxylations; e.g., to methylcrotonyl-CoA to form beta-methylglutaconyl in the catabolism of leucine, and to acetyl-CoA to form malonyl-CoA. See: acetyl-CoA carboxylase. (05 Mar 2000) |
| active caries | Microbial-induced lesions of teeth that are increasing in size. (05 Mar 2000) |
| active centre | The part of a macromolecule at which a substrate or ligand, upon binding, produces biological activity; for an enzyme, this is the catalytic centre, the site on an enzyme that catalyses the reaction. (05 Mar 2000) |
| active congestion | Congestion due to an increased flow of arterial blood to a part. (05 Mar 2000) |
| active electrode | A small electrode whose exciting effect is used to stimulate or record potentials from a localised area. Synonym: exciting electrode, localizing electrode, therapeutic electrode. (05 Mar 2000) |
| active formaldehyde | A hydroxymethyl derivative of tetrahydrofolate or thiamin pyrophosphate, N5,N10-methylenetetrahydrofo late. (05 Mar 2000) |
| active formyl | The formyl group taking part in transformylation reactions with a folic acid derivative in the role of carrier. (05 Mar 2000) |
| active immunity | <immunology> An organisms resistance to disease or infection, developed because the organisms immune system has produced antibodies after an infection or innoculation. (06 May 1997) |
| active immunization | The production of active immunity. (05 Mar 2000) |