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It is not only important, but, in a degree necessary, that the people of this country, should have an American Dictionary of the English language; for, although the body of the language is the same as in England, and it is desirable to perpetuate that sameness, yet some differences must exist. Language is the expression of ideas; and if the people of one country cannot preserve an identity of ideas, they cannot retain an identity of language. |
ZERO, n. Cipher; nothing. The point of a thermometer from which it is graduated. Zero, in the thermometers of Celsius and Reaumur, is at the point at which water congeals. The zero of Fahrenheits thermometer is fixed at the point at which the mercury stands when immersed in a mixture of snow and common salt. In Wedgewoods pyrometer, the zero corresponds with 1077 degrees on Fahrenheits scale.
A cipher; nothing;
naught.
The point from which the graduation of a
scale, as of a thermometer, commences.
* Zero in the Centigrade, or Celsius thermometer, and in the Réaumur thermometer, is at the point at which water congeals. The zero of the Fahrenheit thermometer is fixed at the point at which the mercury stands when immersed in a mixture of snow and common salt. In Wedgwood's pyrometer, the zero corresponds with 1077° on the Fahrenheit scale. See Illust. of Thermometer. Fig.: The lowest point; the point of
exhaustion; as, his patience had nearly reached zero.
Absolute zero. See under Absolute. -- Zero method (Physics), a method of comparing, or measuring, forces, electric currents, etc., by so opposing them that the pointer of an indicating apparatus, or the needle of a galvanometer, remains at, or is brought to, zero, as contrasted with methods in which the deflection is observed directly; -- called also null method. -- Zero point, the point indicating zero, or the commencement of a scale or reckoning. | ||||||||