Fwd: "indeterminate" - Word of the Day from the OED

[Dave Monroe]

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Subject: "indeterminate" - Word of the Day from the OED
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OED Online Word of the Day
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indeterminate, a. (n.)

SECOND EDITION 1989

(ndtmnt)  [ad. L. indtermint-us (Tertullian): see DETERMINATE. Cf F.
indeterminé (14th c., Oresme).]

    Not determined; undetermined.

    1. Not definitely set down; undetermined: cf. DETERMINATE pa. pple. Obs.

c1391 CHAUCER Astrol. II. §17 To knowe the verrey degree of any maner
sterre..thow he be indeterminat in thin astralabie.

    2. a. Not fixed in extent, number, character or nature; left
uncertain as to limits of extent, number, etc.; of uncertain size or
character; indefinite, indistinct, uncertain.

1603 HOLLAND Plutarch's Mor. 1334 This indeterminate and troublesome
infinity. 1651 HOBBES Leviath. II. xxviii. 163 An indeterminate, that
is to say, an arbitrary Punishment. 1662 STILLINGFL. Orig. Sacr. III.
ii. §9 Numenius..condemns all those, as not understanding Pythagoras,
who attribute to him the production of the indeterminate Hyle. 1722
WOLLASTON Relig. Nat. ii 33 For time, as well as space, is capable of
indeterminate division. 1774 J. BRYANT Mythol. I. 226 Can we believe
that they would..choose for a characteristic what was so general and
indeterminate? 1782 MARTYN Geog. Mag. I. 728 Empires of great extent
but indeterminate limits. 1805-17 R. JAMESON Char. Min. (ed. 3) 109
The eight or nine sided prisms afford only accidental or indeterminate
varieties. 1831 R. KNOX Cloquet's Anat. 702 This artery gives off
twigs of indeterminate number. 1885 J. MARTINEAU Types Eth. Th. II. 6
Would it be better..to blur into an indeterminate mess perception,
reasoning, imagination, passion?

    b. Of statements, thoughts, words, etc.: Not clear and definite;
wanting in precision; vague.

1774 J. BRYANT Mythol. I. 498 His account is very indeterminate and
obscure. 1874 JEVONS Princ. Sc. I. 49 Some is an indeterminate
adjective; it implies unknown qualities..but gives no hint as to their
nature. 1878 C. STANFORD Symb. Christ iii. 69 Too often the term
‘Angel’ has for us a cloudy and indeterminate meaning.

    c. Math. Of a quantity: Not limited to a fixed value or number of
values. (Also absol. as n.) Of a problem: Having an unlimited number
of solutions. Also (in Engin.), of a structure or its stresses, =
hyperstatic adj. (s.v. HYPER- IV): usu. qualified by statically.
  indeterminate analysis, the branch of analysis which deals with the
solution of indeterminate problems; method of i. coefficients (more
properly of undetermined coefficients), a method of analysis invented
by Descartes; i. equation, an equation in which the unknown quantities
are indeterminate; i. form, a form consisting of two indeterminate
quantities; i. series, a series whose terms proceed by the powers of
an indeterminate quantity.

1706 PHILLIPS s.v. Problem, Such an one as is capable of an infinite
number of different solutions..is..called an indeterminate Problem.
1795 HUTTON Math. Dict. s.v. Series, Indeterminate Series is one whose
terms proceed by the powers of an indeterminate quantity x. 1806
Course Math. I. 131 It is obvious..that questions of this sort admit
of a great variety of answers..These kinds of questions are called by
algebraists indeterminate or unlimited problems. 1812-16 PLAYFAIR Nat.
Phil. (1819) I. 27 No one of them can be indeterminate, or can admit
of innumerable values, otherwise V itself would be indeterminate. 1816
tr. Lacroix's Diff. & Int. Calculus 143 We may take the successive
differentials, by making those of the two indeterminates, which are
considered as functions of the third, vary at the same time. 1841 J.
R. YOUNG Math. Dissert. ii. 34 The equation..becomes indeterminate,
and capable of an infinite number of different values. 1882 MINCHIN
Unipl. Kinem. 211 At each of these points the value of is
indeterminate. 1905 I. HIROI (title) The statically-indeterminate
stresses in frames commonly used for bridges. 1919 PIPPARD & PRITCHARD
Aeroplane Struct. xxii. 280 The principle of Least Work..enables the
engineer to find the stresses in structures which are statically
indeterminate, i.e. in structures with too many members. 1926 PARCEL &
MANEY Elem. Treat. Statically Indeterminate Stresses p. v, This book
has grown out of the authors' needs in teaching the subject of
Indeterminate Structures during the past fifteen years. 1963 D. A.
FIRMAGE Fund. Theory of Struct. v. 118 A truss can..be determinate,
indeterminate, or unstable with respect to the system of bars. 1964 J.
H. FAUPEL Engin. Design ii. 130 In a statically indeterminate system
the basic equations of statics (F and M = o) are insufficient for
obtaining a solution.

    d. Bot.    (a) = INDEFINITE 5a;    (b) of æstivation: see quot. 1880.

1842 BRANDE Dict. Sci., Lit. etc., Indeterminate,..when a stem is
never terminated by a flower, nor has its growth stopped by any other
organic cause. 1880 GRAY Struct. Bot. iv. §2. 134 The æstivation is
said to be Open or Indeterminate, when the parts do not come into
contact in the bud, so as to cover those within. The most familiar
case is that of the petals of Mignonette.

    e. indeterminate sentence, a sentence in a criminal case which
leaves the prisoner's release dependent on his conduct and on the
probability of his amendment; indeterminate vowel, the ‘obscure’ vowel
(), mid-mixed-wide; = SHEVA 2.

1873 E. C. WINES Rep. Internat. Penitentiary Congr. 1872 xxxviii 273
It is extremely doubtful whether society will, or could, ever become
reconciled to so great a change on the sudden as that from determinate
to wholly indeterminate sentences. 1888 KING & COOKSON Princ. Sound &
Inflexion Gr. & Latin 70 The same indeterminate vowel appears in Sk.,
where it is called a svarabhakti vowel. 1894 W. M. LINDSAY Latin Lang.
257 The obscure or indeterminate vowel (like the Hebrew sheva). 1962
Listener 15 Feb. 290/1 Indeterminate sentences have been common in
western Europe and the United States for some time. 1972 N.Y Law Jrnl.
14 Nov. 6/5 People, &c., v. Manuel SantosIndeterminate sentence.

    3. Not fixed or established; uncertain.

1626 BACON Sylva §698 The Insecta haue Voluntarie Motion.. And whereas
some of the Ancients haue said, that their Motion is Indeterminate,
and their Imagination Indefinite, it is negligently obserued. 1838
PRESCOTT Ferd. & Is. (1846) I. vi. 268 The place of its sittings,
before indeterminate..was fixed at Valladolid. 1842 POE Marie Roget
Wks. 1864 I. 233 The period of their rising is, and necessarily must
be indeterminate. 1876 GEO. ELIOT Dan. Der. vii, It [harvest] lies all
underground, with an indeterminate future.

    4. Not settled or decided; left doubtful.

1656 STANLEY Hist. Philos. v. (1701) 191/2 Indeterminate is that which
is in our Power, and to which part soever it enclineth, will be true
or false. 1678 MARVELL Def. Howe Wks. 1875 IV. 201 So it will be too
if God be to determine it, indeterminate till he have determined it.
1783 MARTYN Geog. Mag. II. 65 This court, where the law is silent or
indeterminate, has a decisive voice. 1872 YEATS Growth Comm. 216
Meanwhile several millions sterlng had been wasted by both companies
in indeterminate conflicts.

    5. Not determined by motives (regarded as external forces); acting freely.

1836 J. GILBERT Chr. Atonem. iv. (1852) 98 This characteristic of
moral action, its indeterminate working. a1871 GROTE Eth. Fragm. ii,
In positive morality, the mandate is conceived as emanating from an
indeterminate superior.

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