Emily Dickinson Lexicon

HY'PER, prep. [Gr. υπερ, Eng. over.]

1. Is used in composition to denote excess, or something over or beyond.
2. n. A hypercritic. [Not used.] Prior.

HY-PER-AS'PIST, n. [Gr. υπερασπιστης; υπερ and ασπις, a shield.]

A defender. Chillingworth. Milner.

HY-PER-BAT'IC, a.

Transposed; inverted.

HY-PER'BA-TON, or HY'PER-BATE, n. [Gr. υπερβατον, from υπερβαινω, to transgress, or go beyond.]

In grammar, a figurative construction inverting the natural and proper order of words and sentences. The species are the anastrophe, the hysteron-proteron, the hypallage, the synchysis, the tinesis, the parenthesis, and the proper hyperbaton, which last is a long retention of the verb which completes the sentence. Encyc.

HY-PER'BO-LA, n. [Gr. υπερ, over, beyond, and βαλλω, to throw.]

In conic sections and geometry, a curve formed by cutting a cone in a direction parallel to its axis. Encyc. A section of a cone, when the cutting plane makes a greater angle with the base than the side of the cone makes. Webber. The latter definition is the most correct.

HY-PER'BO-LE, n. [hyper'boly; Fr. hyperbole; Gr. yperbolh, excess, from υπερβολλω, to throw beyond, to exceed.]

In rhetoric, a figure of speech which expresses much more or less than the truth, or which represents things much greater or less, better or worse than they really are. An object uncommon in size, either great or small, strikes us with surprise, and this emotion produces a momentary conviction that the object is greater or less than it is in reality. The same effect attends figurative grandeur or littleness; and hence the use of the hyperbole, which expresses this momentary conviction. The following are instances of the use of this figure. He was owner of a piece of ground not larger than a Lacedemonian letter. Longinus. If a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Gen. xiii. Ipse arduus, altaque pulsat / Sidera. Virgil. He was so gaunt, the case of a flagellet was a mansion for him. Shak.

HY-PER-BOL'IC, or HY-PER-BOL'IC-AL, a.

1. Belonging to the hyperbola; having the nature of the hyperbola.
2. Relating to or containing hyperbole; exaggerating or diminishing beyond the fact; exceeding the truth; as, a hyperbolical expression. Hyperbolic space, in geometry, the space or content comprehended between the curve of a hyperbole and the whole ordinate. Bailey.

HY-PER-BOL'IC-AL-LY, adv.

1. In the form of a hyperbola.
2. With exaggeration; in a manner to express more or less than the truth. Scylla – is hyperbolically described by Homer as inaccessible. Broome.

HY-PER-BOL'I-FORM, a. [hyperbola and form.]

Having the form, or nearly the form of a hyperbola. Johnson.

HY-PER'BO-LISM, n.

The use of hyperbole. Jefferson.

HY-PER'BO-LIST, n.

One who uses hyperboles.

HY-PER'BO-LIZE, v.i.

To speak or write with exaggeration. Mountagu.

HY-PER'BO-LIZE, v.t.

To exaggerate or extenuate. Fotherby.

HY-PER'BO-LOID, n. [hyperbola, and Gr. ειδος, form.]

A hyperbolic conoid; a solid formed by the revolution of a hyperbola about its axis. Ed. Encyc.

HY-PER-BO'RE-AN, a. [L. hyperboreus; Gr. υπερβορεος; υπερ, beyond, and βορεας, the north.]

1. Northern; belonging to or inhabiting a region very far north; most northern.
2. Very cold; frigid.

HY-PER-BO'RE-AN, n.

An inhabitant of the most northern region of the earth. The ancients gave this denomination to the people and places to the northward of the Scythians, people and regions of which they had little or no knowledge. The hyperboreans then are the Laplanders, the Samoiedes, and the Russians near the White Sea.

HY-PER-CAR'BU-RET-ED, a.

Supercarbureted; having the largest proportion of carbon. Silliman.

HY-PER-CAT-A-LEC'TIC, a. [Gr. υπερκαταληκτικος; υπερ and καταληξις, termination.]

A hypercatalectic verse, in Greek and Latin poetry, is a verse which has a syllable or two beyond the regular and just measure. Bailey. Encyc.

HY-PER-CRIT'IC, or HY-PER-CRIT'IC-AL, a.

1. Over critical; critical beyond use or reason; animadverting on faults with unjust severity; as, a hypercritical reader. Swift.
2. Excessively nice or exact; as, a hypercritical punctilio. Evelyn.

HY-PER-CRIT'IC, n. [Fr. hypercritique; Gr. υπερ, beyond, and κριτικος, critical. See Critic.]

One who is critical beyond measure or reason; an over rigid critic; a captious censor. Dryden.

HY-PER-CRIT'I-CISM, n.

Excessive rigor of criticism. Med. Repos. Bailey.

HY-PER-DU'LI-A, n. [Gr. υπερ, beyond, and δουλεια, service.]

Super-service in the Romish church, performed to the Virgin Mary. Usher.

HY-PER'I-CON, n.

John's wort. Stukely.

HY-PER'ME-TER, n. [Gr. υπερ, beyond, and μετρον, measure.]

Any thing greater than the ordinary standard of measure. Addison. A verse is called a hypermeter, when it contains a syllable more than the ordinary measure. When this is the case, the following line begins with a vowel, and the redundant syllable of the former line blends with the first of the following, and they are read as one syllable.

HY-PER-MET'RIC-AL, a.

Exceeding the common measure; having a redundant syllable. Rambler.