Emily Dickinson Lexicon

IN-FE'CUND, a. [L. infœcundus; in and fœcundus, prolific.]

Unfruitful; not producing young; barren.

IN-FE-CUND'I-TY, n. [L. infœcunditas.]

Unfruitfulness; barrenness. – Med. Repot.

IN-FE-LIC'I-TOUS, a.

Not felicitous; unhappy.

IN-FE-LIC'I-TY, n. [Fr. infelicité; L. infelicitas. See Felicity.]

1. Unhappiness; misery; misfortune.
2. Unfortunate state; unfavorableness; as, the infelicity of the times, or of the occasion.

IN-FEOFF, v.t. [See ENFEOFF'.]

IN-FER', v.t. [Fr. inferer; L. infero; in and fero, to bear or produce.]

1. Literally, to bring on; to induce. [Little used.] – Harvey.
2. To deduce; to draw or derive, as a fact or consequence. From the character of God, as creator and governor of the world, we infer the indispensable obligation of all his creatures to obey his commands. We infer one proposition or truth from another, when we perceive that if one is true, the other must be true also.
3. To offer; to produce. [Not used.] – Shak.

IN-FER'A-BLE, a.

That may be inferred or deduced from premises. – Burke.

IN'FER-ENCE, n. [Fr. from inferer.]

A truth or proposition drawn from another which is admitted or supposed to be true; a conclusion. Inferences result from reasoning, as when the mind perceives such a connection between ideas, as that, if certain propositions called premises are true, the conclusions or propositions deduced from them must also be true.

IN-FE-REN'TIAL, a.

Deduced or deducible by inference.

IN-FE'RIAE, n. [IN-FE'RIæ; L.]

Sacrifices offered by the ancients to the souls of deceased heroes or friends.

IN-FE'RI-OR, a. [L. comp. from inferus, low; Sp. id; Fr. inferieur.]

1. Lower in place.
2. Lower in station, age, or rank in life. Pay due respect to those who are superior in station, and due civility to those who are inferior.
3. Lower in excellence or value; as, a poem of inferior merit; cloth of inferior quality or price.
4. Subordinate; of less importance. Attend to health and safety; ease and convenience are inferior considerations.

IN-FE'RI-OR, n.

A person who is younger, or of a lower station or rank in society. A person gets more by obliging his inferior, than by disdaining him. – South.

IN-FE-RI-OR'I-TY, n. [Fr. inferiorité.]

A lower state of dignity, age, value, or quality. We speak of the inferiority of rank, of office, of talents, of age, of worth.

IN-FE'RI-OR-LY, adv.

In an inferior manner, or on the inferior part. [A word that deserves no countenance.]

IN-FERN'AL, a. [Fr. from L. infernus.]

1. Properly, pertaining to the lower regions, or regions of the dead, the Tartarus of the ancients. Hence,
2. Pertaining to hell; inhabiting hell; as, infernal spirits.
3. Hellish; resembling the temper of infernal spirits; malicious; diabolical; very wicked and detestable.

IN-FERN'AL, n.

An inhabitant of hell, or of the lower regions.

IN-FERN'AL-LY, adv.

In an infernal manner.

INFERNAL-STONE, n. [Infernal stone; lapis infernalis,]

a name formerly given to lunar caustic, a substance prepared from an evaporated solution of silver in nitric acid. Lunar caustic is nitrate of silver fused and cast in small cylinders. – Brande.

IN-FER'RED, pp.

Deduced, as a consequence.

IN-FER'RING, ppr.

Deducing, as a fact or consequence.

IN-FER'TILE, a. [Fr. from L. infertilis; in and fertilis.]

Not fertile; not fruitful or productive; barren; as, an infertile soil.

IN-FER'TILE-LY, adv.

In an unproductive manner.

IN-FER-TIL'I-TY, n.

Unfruitfulness; unproductiveness; barrenness; as, the infertility of land. – Hale.

IN-FEST', v.t. [Fr. infester; L. infesto.]

To trouble greatly; to disturb; to annoy; to harass. In warm weather, men are infested with musketoes and gnats; flies infest horses and cattle. The sea is often infested with pirates. Small parties of the enemy infest the coast. These, said the genius, are envy, avarice, superstition, love, with the like cares and passions that infest human life. – Addison.

IN-FEST-A'TION, n.

The act of infesting; molestation. – Bacon.