Emily Dickinson Lexicon

EX-TREME, a. [L. extremus, last.]

1. Outermost; utmost; furthest; at the utmost point, edge or border; as, the extreme verge or point of a thing.
2. Greatest; most violent; utmost; as, extreme pain, grief or suffering; extreme joy or pleasure.
3. Last; beyond which there is none; as, an extreme remedy.
4. Utmost; worst or best that can exist or be supposed; as, an extreme case.
5. Most pressing; as, extreme necessity. Extreme unction, among the Romanists, is the anointing of a sick person with oil, when decrepit with age or affected with some mortal disease, and usually just before death. It is applied to the eyes, ears, nostrils, mouth, hands, feet and reins of penitents, and is supposed to represent the grace of God poured into the soul. Encyc. Extreme and mean proportion, in geometry, is when a line is so divided, that the whole line is to the greater segment, as that segment is to the less; or when a line is so divided, that the rectangle under the whole line and the lesser segment is equal to the square of the greater segment. Euclid.