Emily Dickinson Lexicon

AB'SO-LUTE, a. [L. absolutus. See Absolve.]

1. Literally, in a general sense, free, independent of any thing extraneous. Hence,
2. Complete in itself; positive; as, an absolute declaration.
3. Unconditional, as, an absolute promise.
4. Existing independent of any other cause, as, God is absolute.
5. Unlimited by extraneous power or control, as, an absolute government or prince.
6. Not relative, as, absolute space. – Stillingfleet. In grammar, the case absolute, is when a word or member of a sentence is not immediately dependent on the other parts of the sentence in government. A clause independent. Absolute equation, in astronomy, is the aggregate of the optic and eccentric equations. The apparent inequality of a planet's motion in its orbit, arising from its unequal distances from the earth at different times, is called its optic equation: the eccentric inequality is caused by the uniformity of the planet's motion, in an elliptical orbit, which, for that reason, appears not to be uniform. Absolute numbers, in algebra, are such as have no letters annexed as 2a + 36 = 48. The two latter numbers are absolute or pure. – Encyc. Absolute space, in physics, is space considered without relation to any other object. – Bailey. Absolute gravity, in philosophy, is that property in bodies by which they are said to weigh so much, without regard to circumstances of modification, and this is always as the quantity of matter they contain. – Bailey.