3. One born without the usual powers of reason or understanding; an
idiot. "The minds of naturals." Locke.
4. (Mus.) A character [] used to contradict, or to remove the effect
of, a sharp or flat which has preceded it, and to restore the unaltered
note.
Nat"u*ral*ism (?), n. [Cf. F. naturalisme.] 1. A state of nature;
conformity to nature.
2. (Metaph.) The doctrine of those who deny a supernatural agency in
the miracles and revelations recorded in the Bible, and in spiritual
influences; also, any system of philosophy which refers the phenomena
of nature to a blind force or forces acting necessarily or according to
fixed laws, excluding origination or direction by one intelligent will.
Nat"u*ral*ist, n. [Cf. F. naturaliste.] 1. One versed in natural
science; a student of natural history, esp. of the natural history of
animals.
2. One who holds or maintains the doctrine of naturalism in religion.
H. Bushnell.
Nat`u*ral*is"tic (?), a. 1. Belonging to the doctrines of naturalism.
2. Closely resembling nature; realistic. "Naturalistic bit of
pantomime." W. D. Howells.
Nat`u*ral"i*ty (?), n. [L. naturalitas: cf. F. naturalité.] Nature;
naturalness. [R.]
Nat`u*ral*i*za"tion (?), n. [Cf. F. naturalisation.] The act or process
of naturalizing, esp. of investing an alien with the rights and
privileges of a native or citizen; also, the state of being
naturalized.
Nat"u*ral*ize (?; 135), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Naturalized (#); p. pr. &
vb. n. Naturalizing (#).] [Cf. F. naturaliser. See Natural.] 1. To make
natural; as, custom naturalizes labor or study.
2. To confer the rights and privileges of a native subject or citizen
on; to make as if native; to adopt, as a foreigner into a nation or
state, and place in the condition of a native subject.
3. To receive or adopt as native, natural, or vernacular; to make one's
own; as, to naturalize foreign words.
4. To adapt; to accustom; to habituate; to acclimate; to cause to grow
as under natural conditions.
Its wearer suggested that pears and peaches might yet be
naturalized in the New England climate.
Hawthorne.
Nat"u*ral*ize, v. i. 1. To become as if native.
2. To explain phenomena by natural agencies or laws, to the exclusion
of the supernatural.
Infected by this naturalizing tendency.
H. Bushnell.
Nat"u*ral*ly, adv. In a natural manner or way; according to the usual
course of things; spontaneously.
Nat"u*ral*ness, n. The state or quality of being natural; conformity to
nature.
Na"ture (?; 135), n. [F., fr. L. natura, fr. natus born, produced, p.
p. of nasci to be born. See Nation.] 1. The existing system of things;
the world of matter, or of matter and mind; the creation; the universe.
But looks through nature up to nature's God.
Pope.
Nature has caprices which art can not imitate.
Macaulay.
2. The personified sum and order of causes and effects; the powers
which produce existing phenomena, whether in the total or in detail;
the agencies which carry on the processes of creation or of being; --
often conceived of as a single and separate entity, embodying the total
of all finite agencies and forces as disconnected from a creating or
ordering intelligence.
I oft admire How Nature, wise and frugal, could commit Such
disproportions.
Milton.
3. The established or regular course of things; usual order of events;
connection of cause and effect.
4. Conformity to that which is natural, as distinguished from that
which is artificial, or forced, or remote from actual experience.
One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.
Shak.
5. The sum of qualities and attributes which make a person or thing
what it is, as distinct from others; native character; inherent or
essential qualities or attributes; peculiar constitution or quality of
being.
Thou, therefore, whom thou only canst redeem, Their nature also to
thy nature join, And be thyself man among men on earth.
Milton.