sympathetic powder

1 definition found

sympathetic powder - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Sympathetic \Sym`pa*thet"ic\, a. [See Sympathy, and cf.
     Pathetic.]
     1. Inclined to sympathy; sympathizing.
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              Far wiser he, whose sympathetic mind
              Exults in all the good of all mankind. --Goldsmith.
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     2. Produced by, or expressive of, sympathy.
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              Ope the sacred source of sympathetic tears. --Gray.
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     3. (Physiol.)
        (a) Produced by sympathy; -- applied particularly to
            symptoms or affections. See Sympathy.
        (b) Of or relating to the sympathetic nervous system or
            some of its branches; produced by stimulation on the
            sympathetic nervious system or some part of it; as,
            the sympathetic saliva, a modified form of saliva,
            produced from some of the salivary glands by
            stimulation of a sympathetic nerve fiber.
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     Sympathetic ink. (Chem.) See under Ink.
  
     Sympathetic nerve (Anat.), any nerve of the sympathetic
        system; especially, the axial chain of ganglions and
        nerves belonging to the sympathetic system.
  
     Sympathetic powder (Alchemy), a kind of powder long
        supposed to be able to cure a wound if applied to the
        weapon that inflicted it, or even to a portion of the
        bloody clothes. --Dunglison.
  
     Sympathetic sounds (Physics), sounds produced from solid
        bodies by means of vibrations which have been communicated
        to them from some other sounding body, by means of the air
        or an intervening solid.
  
     Sympathetic system (Anat.), a system of nerves and nerve
        ganglions connected with the alimentary canal, the
        vascular system, and the glandular organs of most
        vertebrates, and controlling more or less their actions.
        The axial part of the system and its principal ganglions
        and nerves are situated in the body cavity and form a
        chain of ganglions on each side of the vertebral column
        connected with numerous other ganglions and nerve
        plexuses.
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