Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CON'STANT-LY, adv.

Firmly: steadily; invariably; continually; perseveringly. Rhoda constantly affirmed that it was even so. – Acts xii. These things I will that thou affirm constantly. – Tit. iii.

CON'STAT, n. [L. it appears.]

1. In England, a certificate given by the clerk of the pipe and auditors of the exchequer, to a person who intends to plead or move for a discharge of any thing in that court. The effect of it is to show what appears upon the record, respecting the matter in question.
2. An exemplification under the great seal of the enrollment of any letters patent. – Encyc.

CON'STEL-LATE, v.i. [Low L. constellatus; con and stella, to shine, stella, a star.]

To join luster; to shine with united radiance or one general light. [Little used.] The several things which engage our affections shine forth and constellate in God. – Boyle.

CON'STEL-LATE, v.t.

To unite several shining bodies in one splendor. [Little used.] – Brown.

CON'STEL-LA-TED, pp.

1. United in one splendor. – Brown.
2. Starry, set or adorned with stars or constellations. – J. Barlow.

CON-STEL-LA'TION, n.

1. A cluster of fixed stars; an asterism; a number of stars which appear as if situated near each other in the heavens, and are considered as forming a particular division. The constellations are reduced mostly to the figures of certain animals or other known things, as the bear, the bull, the ram, the balance, &c. For the stars of heaven, and the constellations thereof, shall not give their light. – Is. xiii.
2. An assemblage of splendors or excellencies. – Hammond.

CON-STER-NA'TION, n. [L. consternatio, from consterno; con and sterno, to throw or strike down.]

Astonishment; amazement or horror that confounds the faculties, and incapacitates a person for consultation and execution; excessive terror, wonder or surprise. – South.

CON'STI-PATE, v.t. [L. constipo; con and stipo, to crowd, or cram, Eng. to stuff, to stop. See Stuff and Stop.]

1. To crowd or cram into a narrow compass; to thicken or condense. – Bacon.
2. To stop, by filling a passage, and preventing motion; as, to constipate capillary vessels. Arbuthnot.
3. To fill or crowd the intestinal canal, and make costive. – Brown.

CON'STI-PA-TED, pp.

Made costive.

CON'STI-PA-TING, ppr.

Making costive.

CON-STI-PA'TION, n.

1. The act of crowding any thing into a less compass; a pressing together; condensation; as, a close constipation of particles. – Bentley.
2. More generally, a crowding or filling to hardness the intestinal canal, from defective excretion; costiveness; obstipation. – Encyc. Coxe.

CON-STIT'U-EN-CY, n.

The act of constituting, or more frequently, the body constituents. [Modern usage.]

CON-STIT'U-ENT, a. [L. constituens, constituo; con and statuo, to set. See Statue, Statute.]

Setting; constituting; applied to parts of a thing that are essential to it. Hence, necessary or essential; elemental; forming, composing or making as an essential part; as, oxygen and hydrogen are the constituent parts of water. Body, soul, and reason, are the three constituent parts of a man. – Dryden.

CON-STIT'U-ENT, n.

1. He or that which sets, fixes or forms; he or that which constitutes or composes. Their first composure and origination requires a higher and nobler constituent than chance. – Hale.
2. That which constitutes or composes, as a part, or an essential part. The lymph in those glands is a necessary constituent of the aliment. – Arbuthnot.
3. One who appoints or elects another to an office or employment. – Burke.

CON'STI-TUTE, v.t. [L. constituo; con and statuo, to set. See Statue, Statute. It. constituire; Sp. constituir; Fr. constituer.]

1. To set; to fix; to enact; to establish. We must obey laws appointed and constituted by lawful authority, not against the law of God. – Taylor.
2. To form or compose; to give formal existence to; to make a thing what it is. Perspicuity constitutes the prime excellence of style. Truth and reason constitute that intellectual gold that defies destruction. – Johnson.
3. To appoint, depute or elect to an office or employment; to make and empower. A sherif is constituted a conservator of the peace. A. has constituted B. his attorney or agent.

CON'STI-TU-TED, pp.

Set; fixed; established; made; elected; appointed.

CON'STI-TU-TED-AU-THOR'I-TIES, n. [CON'STI-TU-TED AU-THOR'I-TIES.]

The magistrates or governors of a people. – H. More.

CON'STI-TU-TER, n.

One who constitutes or appoints.

CON'STI-TU-TING, ppr.

Setting; establishing; composing; electing; appointing.

CON-STI-TU'TION, n.

1. The act of constituting, enacting, establishing, or appointing.
2. The state of being; that form of being or peculiar structure and connection of parts which makes or characterizes a system or body. Hence the particular frame or temperament of the human body is called its constitution. We speak of a robust or feeble constitution; a cold, phlegmatic, sanguine or irritable constitution. We speak of the constitution of the air, or other substance; the constitution of the solar system; the constitution of things.
3. The frame or temper of mind, affections or passions.
4. The established form of government in a state, kingdom or country; a system of fundamental rules, principles and ordinances for the government of a state or nation. In free states, the constitution is paramount to the statutes or laws enacted by the legislature, limiting and controlling its power; and in the United States, the legislature is created, and its powers designated, by the constitution.
5. A particular law, ordinance, or regulation, made by the authority of any superior, civil or ecclesiastical; as, the constitutions of the churches; the novel constitutions of Justinian and his successors.
6. A system of fundamental principles for the government of rational and social beings. The New Testament is the moral constitution of modern society. – Grimke.

CON-STI-TU'TION-AL, a.

1. Bred or inherent in the constitution, or in the natural frame of body or mind; as, a constitutional infirmity; constitutional ardor or dullness.
2. Consistent with the constitution; authorized by the constitution or fundamental rules of a government; legal. An act of congress prohibiting the importation of slaves into the United States is constitutional.
3. Relating to the constitution; as, a constitutional doubt. Paley.

CON-STI-TU'TION-AL-IST, n.

1. An adherent to the constitution of government.
2. An innovator of the old constitution, or a framer or friend of the new constitution in France. – Burke.

CON-STI-TU-TION-AL'I-TY, n.

1. The state of being constitutional; the state of being inherent in the natural frame; as, the constitutionality of disease. – Coxe. Med. Repository.
2. The state of being consistent with the constitution or frame of government, or of being authorized by its provisions. The judges of the supreme court of the United States have the power of determining the constitutionality of laws.

CON-STI-TU'TION-AL-LY, adv.

In consistency with the constitution or frame of government.

CON-STI-TU'TION-A-RY, a.

Constitutional. [Bad.]