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Beginning; commencement. |
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A source, or origin; that from which anything proceeds;
fundamental substance or energy; primordial substance; ultimate
element, or cause. |
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An original faculty or endowment. |
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A fundamental truth; a comprehensive law or doctrine,
from which others are derived, or on which others are founded; a
general truth; an elementary proposition; a maxim; an axiom; a
postulate. |
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A settled rule of action; a governing law of conduct; an
opinion or belief which exercises a directing influence on the life and
behavior; a rule (usually, a right rule) of conduct consistently
directing one's actions; as, a person of no principle. |
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Any original inherent constituent which characterizes a
substance, or gives it its essential properties, and which can usually
be separated by analysis; -- applied especially to drugs, plant
extracts, etc. |
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To equip with principles; to establish, or fix, in
certain principles; to impress with any tenet, or rule of conduct, good
or ill. |