Sci"ence (?), n. [F., fr. L. scientia, fr. sciens, -entis, p. pr. of
scire to know. Cf. Conscience, Conscious, Nice.] 1. Knowledge;
knowledge of principles and causes; ascertained truth of facts.
If we conceive God's sight or science, before the creation, to be
extended to all and every part of the world, seeing everything as
it is, . . . his science or sight from all eternity lays no
necessity on anything to come to pass.
Hammond.
Shakespeare's deep and accurate science in mental philosophy.
Coleridge.
2. Accumulated and established knowledge, which has been systematized
and formulated with reference to the discovery of general truths or the
operation of general laws; knowledge classified and made available in
work, life, or the search for truth; comprehensive, profound, or
philosophical knowledge.
All this new science that men lere [teach].
Chaucer.
Science is . . . a complement of cognitions, having, in point of
form, the character of logical perfection, and in point of matter,
the character of real truth.
Sir W. Hamilton.
3. Especially, such knowledge when it relates to the physical world and
its phenomena, the nature, constitution, and forces of matter, the
qualities and functions of living tissues, etc.; -- called also natural
science, and physical science.
Voltaire hardly left a single corner of the field entirely
unexplored in science, poetry, history, philosophy.
J. Morley.
4. Any branch or department of systematized knowledge considered as a
distinct field of investigation or object of study; as, the science of
astronomy, of chemistry, or of mind.
The ancients reckoned seven sciences, namely, grammar, rhetoric, logic,
arithmetic, music, geometry, and astronomy; -- the first three being
included in the Trivium, the remaining four in the Quadrivium.
Good sense, which only is the gift of Heaven, And though no
science, fairly worth the seven.
Pope.
5. Art, skill, or expertness, regarded as the result of knowledge of
laws and principles.
His science, coolness, and great strength.
G. A. Lawrence.
Science is applied or pure. Applied science is a knowledge of facts,
events, or phenomena, as explained, accounted for, or produced, by
means of powers, causes, or laws. Pure science is the knowledge of
these powers, causes, or laws, considered apart, or as pure from all
applications. Both these terms have a similar and special signification
when applied to the science of quantity; as, the applied and pure
mathematics. Exact science is knowledge so systematized that prediction
and verification, by measurement, experiment, observation, etc., are
possible. The mathematical and physical sciences are called the exact
sciences.
Comparative sciences, Inductive sciences. See under Comparative, and
Inductive.
Syn. -- Literature; art; knowledge. -- Science, Literature, Art.
Science is literally knowledge, but more usually denotes a systematic
and orderly arrangement of knowledge. In a more distinctive sense,
science embraces those branches of knowledge of which the
subject-matter is either ultimate principles, or facts as explained by
principles or laws thus arranged in natural order. The term literature
sometimes denotes all compositions not embraced under science, but
usually confined to the belles-lettres. [See Literature.] Art is that
which depends on practice and skill in performance. "In science, scimus
ut sciamus; in art, scimus ut producamus. And, therefore, science and
art may be said to be investigations of truth; but one, science,
inquires for the sake of knowledge; the other, art, for the sake of
production; and hence science is more concerned with the higher truths,
art with the lower; and science never is engaged, as art is, in
productive application. And the most perfect state of science,
therefore, will be the most high and accurate inquiry; the perfection
of art will be the most apt and efficient system of rules; art always
throwing itself into the form of rules." Karslake.
Sci"ence, v. t. To cause to become versed in science; to make skilled;
to instruct. [R.] Francis.
Sci"ent (?), a. [L. sciens, - entis, p. pr.] Knowing; skillful. [Obs.]
Cockeram.
||Sci*en"ter (?), adv. [L.] (Law) Knowingly; willfully. Bouvier.
Sci*en"tial (?), a. [LL. scientialis, fr. L. scientia.] Pertaining to,
or producing, science. [R.] Milton.
Sci`en*tif"ic (?), a. [F. scientifique; L. scientia science + facere to
make.] 1. Of or pertaining to science; used in science; as, scientific
principles; scientific apparatus; scientific observations.
2. Agreeing with, or depending on, the rules or principles of science;
as, a scientific classification; a scientific arrangement of fossils.
3. Having a knowledge of science, or of a science; evincing science or
systematic knowledge; as, a scientific chemist; a scientific reasoner;
a scientific argument.
Bossuet is as scientific in the structure of his sentences.
Landor.
Scientific method, the method employed in exact science and consisting
of: (a) Careful and abundant observation and experiment. (b)
generalization of the results into formulated "Laws" and statements.
Sci`en*tif"ic*al (?), a. Scientific. Locke.
Sci`en*tif"ic*al*ly, adv. In a scientific manner; according to the
rules or principles of science.
It is easier to believe than to be scientifically instructed.
Locke.
Sci"en*tist (?), n. One learned in science; a scientific investigator;
one devoted to scientific study; a savant. [Recent]
Twenty years ago I ventured to propose one [a name for the class of men
who give their lives to scientific study] which has been slowly finding
its way to general adoption; and the word scientist, though scarcely
euphonious, has gradually assumed its place in our vocabulary. B. A.
Gould (Address, 1869).
Scil"i*cet (?), adv. [L., fr. scire licet you may know.] To wit;
namely; videlicet; -- often abbreviated to sc., or ss.
Scil"la*in (?), n. (Chem.) A glucoside extracted from squill (Scilla)
as a light porous substance.
Scil"li*tin (?), n. [Cf. F. scilitine.] (Chem.) A bitter principle
extracted from the bulbs of the squill (Scilla), and probably
consisting of a complex mixture of several substances.
{ Scim"i*ter , Scim"i*tar } (?), n. [F. cimeterre, cf. It. scimitarra,
Sp. cimitarra; fr. Biscayan cimetarra with a sharp edge; or corrupted
from Per. shimshr.] 1. A saber with a much curved blade having the edge
on the convex side, -- in use among Mohammedans, esp., the Arabs and
persians. [Written also cimeter, and scymetar.]