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Webster 1913 Edition


Complement

Com′ple-ment

,
Noun.
[L.
complementun
: cf. F.
complément
. See
Complete
,
Verb.
T.
, and cf.
Compliment
.]
1.
That which fills up or completes; the quantity or number required to fill a thing or make it complete.
2.
That which is required to supply a deficiency, or to complete a symmetrical whole.
History is the
complement
of poetry.
Sir J. Stephen.
3.
Full quantity, number, or amount; a complete set; completeness.
To exceed his
complement
and number appointed him which was one hundred and twenty persons.
Hakluyt.
4.
(Math.)
A second quantity added to a given quantity to make it equal to a third given quantity.
5.
Something added for ornamentation; an accessory.
[Obs.]
Without vain art or curious
complements
.
Spenser.
6.
(Naut.)
The whole working force of a vessel.
7.
(Mus.)
The interval wanting to complete the octave; – the fourth is the complement of the fifth, the sixth of the third.
8.
A compliment.
[Obs.]
Shak.
Arithmetical compliment of a logarithm
.
See under
Logarithm
.
Arithmetical complement of a number
(Math.)
,
the difference between that number and the next higher power of 10; as, 4 is the complement of 6, and 16 of 84.
Complement of an arc
or
Complement of an angle
(Geom.)
,
the difference between that arc or angle and 90°.
Complement of a parallelogram
.
(Math.)
See
Gnomon
.
In her complement
(Her.)
,
said of the moon when represented as full.

Com′ple-ment

,
Verb.
T.
1.
To supply a lack; to supplement.
[R.]
2.
To compliment.
[Obs.]
Jer. Taylor.

Webster 1828 Edition


Complement

COMPLEMENT

, n.
1.
Fulness; completion; whence, perfection.
They as they feasted had their fill,
For a full complement of all their ill.
2.
Full quantity or number; the quantity or number limited; as, a company has its complement of men; a ship has its complement of stores.
3.
That which is added, not as necessary, but as ornamental; something adventitious to the main thing; ceremony. [See Compliment.]
garnished and decked in modest complement.
4.
In geometry, what remains of the quadrant of a circle, or of ninety degrees, after any arch has been taken from it. Thus if the arch taken is thirty degrees, its complement is sixty.
5.
In astronomy, the distance of a star from the zenith.
6.
Arithmetical complement of a logarithm, is what the logarithm wants of 10,000,000.
7.
In fortification, the complement of the curtain is that part in the interior side which makes the demigorge.

Definition 2024


complément

complément

See also: complement

French

Noun

complément m (plural compléments)

  1. complement, thing added that makes a whole
  2. (mathematics) complement
  3. (optics) complement

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