| principle | 1. Beginning; commencement. "Doubting sad end of principle unsound." (Spenser) 2. A source, or origin; that from which anything proceeds; fundamental substance or energy; primordial substance; ultimate element, or cause. "The soul of man is an active principle." (Tillotson) 3. An original faculty or endowment. "Nature in your principles hath set [benignity]" (Chaucer) "Those active principles whose direct and ultimate object is the communication either of enjoyment or suffering." (Stewart) 4. A fundamental truth; a comprehensive law or doctrine, from which others are derived, or on which others are founded; a general truth; an elementary proposition; a maxim; an axiom; a postulate. "Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection." (Heb. Vi. 1) "A good principle, not rightly understood, may prove as hurtful as a bad." (Milton) 5. A settled rule of action; a governing law of conduct; an opinion or belief which exercises a directing influence on the life and behavior; a rule (usually, a right rule) of conduct consistently directing one's actions; as, a person of no principle. "All kinds of dishonesty destroy our pretenses to an honest principle of mind." (Law) 6. <chemistry> Any original inherent constituent which characterises a substance, or gives it its essential properties, and which can usually be separated by analysis; applied especially to drugs, plant extracts, etc. "Cathartine is the bitter, purgative principle of senna." (Gregory) Bitter principle, Principle of contradiction, etc. See Bitter, Contradiction, etc. Origin: F. Principe, L. Principium beginning, foundation, fr. Princeps, -cipis. See Prince. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| principle of inertia | In psychoanalysis, the impulse to redramatise or reenact earlier emotional experiences or situations. Synonym: principle of inertia. (05 Mar 2000) |
| proximate principle | In chemistry, an organic compound that may exist already formed as a part of some other more complex substance (e.g., various sugars, starches, and albumins). Synonym: organic principle. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Huygens' principle | Used in ultrasound technology; the principle that any wave phenomenon can be analyzed as the sum of many simple sources properly chosen with regard to phase and amplitude. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Stewart-Hamilton principle | Used to determine blood flow from the concentration of dye or temperature dilution. (05 Mar 2000) |
| nirvana principle | In psychoanalysis, the principle that expresses the tendency toward the death instinct. (05 Mar 2000) |
| organic principle | In chemistry, an organic compound that may exist already formed as a part of some other more complex substance (e.g., various sugars, starches, and albumins). Synonym: organic principle. (05 Mar 2000) |
| energy principle | <radiobiology> In magnetohydrodynamic theory, this principle states that a perturbation is unstable if it reduces the stored potential energy of the system (and thus allows the conversion of potential energy to kinetic energy of the instability). For more details consult reference 6. (09 Oct 1997) |
| ultimate principle | One of the chemical elements. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Fick principle | |
| founder principle | The conditional probabilities of the frequencies of a set of genes at any future date depend on the initial composition of the founders of the population and have in general no tendency to revert to the composition of the population from which the founders were themselves derived. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Le Chatelier's principle | If external factors such as temperature and pressure disturb a system in equilibrium, adjustment occurs in such a way that the effect of the disturbing factors is reduced to a minimum. Synonym: Le Chatelier's principle. (05 Mar 2000) |
| low flow principle | A principle based on the observation that animals can survive prolonged vena caval occlusion without sequelae: if blood from the azygos vein alone is permitted to enter the heart, patients are perfused during cardiac and pulmonary bypass at flows much less than the normal resting cardiac output. Synonym: low flow principle. (05 Mar 2000) |
| luteinizing principle | <protein> Synonym for luteinising hormone. (18 Nov 1997) |