Num·ber n.
 1. That which admits of being counted or reckoned; a unit, or an aggregate of units; a numerable aggregate or collection of individuals; an assemblage made up of distinct things expressible by figures.
 2. A collection of many individuals; a numerous assemblage; a multitude; many.
    Ladies are always of great use to the party they espouse, and never fail to win over numbers.   --Addison.
 3. A numeral; a word or character denoting a number; as, to put a number on a door.
 4. Numerousness; multitude.
    Number itself importeth not much in armies where the people are of weak courage.   --Bacon.
 5. The state or quality of being numerable or countable.
    Of whom came nations, tribes, people, and kindreds out of number.   --2 Esdras iii. 7.
 6. Quantity, regarded as made up of an aggregate of separate things.
 7. That which is regulated by count; poetic measure, as divisions of time or number of syllables; hence, poetry, verse; -- chiefly used in the plural.
    I lisped in numbers, for the numbers came.   --Pope.
 8. Gram. The distinction of objects, as one, or more than one (in some languages, as one, or two, or more than two), expressed (usually) by a difference in the form of a word; thus, the singular number and the plural number are the names of the forms of a word indicating the objects denoted or referred to by the word as one, or as more than one.
 9. Math. The measure of the relation between quantities or things of the same kind; that abstract species of quantity which is capable of being expressed by figures; numerical value.
 Abstract number, Abundant number, Cardinal number, etc. See under Abstract, Abundant, etc.
 In numbers, in numbered parts; as, a book published in numbers.


 Per·fect a.
 1. Brought to consummation or completeness; completed; not defective nor redundant; having all the properties or qualities requisite to its nature and kind; without flaw, fault, or blemish; without error; mature; whole; pure; sound; right; correct.
    My strength is made perfect in weakness.   --2 Cor. xii. 9.
    Three glorious suns, each one a perfect sun.   --Shak.
    I fear I am not in my perfect mind.   --Shak.
    O most entire perfect sacrifice!   --Keble.
    God made thee perfect, not immutable.   --Milton.
 2. Well informed; certain; sure.
    I am perfect that the Pannonians are now in arms.   --Shak.
 3. Bot. Hermaphrodite; having both stamens and pistils; -- said of a flower.
 Perfect cadence Mus., a complete and satisfactory close in the harmony, as upon the tonic preceded by the dominant.
 Perfect chord Mus., a concord or union of sounds which is perfectly coalescent and agreeable to the ear, as the unison, octave, fifth, and fourth; a perfect consonance; a common chord in its original position of keynote, third, fifth, and octave.
 Perfect number Arith., a number equal to the sum of all its divisors; as, 28, whose aliquot parts, or divisors, are 14, 7, 4, 2, 1. See Abundant number, under Abundant. --Brande & C.
 Perfect tense Gram., a tense which expresses an act or state completed; also called the perfective tense.
 Syn: -- Finished; consummate; complete; entire; faultless; blameless; unblemished.


 A·bun·dant a.  Fully sufficient; plentiful; in copious supply; -- followed by in, rarely by with. “Abundant in goodness and truth.”
 Abundant number Math., a number, the sum of whose aliquot parts exceeds the number itself. Thus, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, the aliquot parts of 12, make the number 16. This is opposed to a deficient number, as 14, whose aliquot parts are 1, 2, 7, the sum of which is 10; and to a perfect number, which is equal to the sum of its aliquot parts, as 6, whose aliquot parts are 1, 2., 3.
 Syn: -- Ample; plentiful; copious; plenteous; exuberant; overflowing; rich; teeming; profuse; bountiful; liberal. See Ample.

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 Im·per·fect a.
 1. Not perfect; not complete in all its parts; wanting a part; deective; deficient.
    Something he left imperfect in the state.   --Shak.
    Why, then, your other senses grow imperfect.   --Shak.
 2. Wanting in some elementary organ that is essential to successful or normal activity.
    He . . . stammered like a child, or an amazed, imperfect person.   --Jer. Taylor.
 3. Not fulfilling its design; not realizing an ideal; not conformed to a standard or rule; not satisfying the taste or conscience; esthetically or morally defective.
 Nothing imperfect or deficient left
 Of all that he created.   --Milton.
 Then say not man's imperfect, Heaven in fault;
 Say rather, man's as perfect as he ought.   --Pope.
 Imperfect arch, an arch of less than a semicircle; a skew arch.
 Imperfect cadence Mus., one not ending with the tonic, but with the dominant or some other chord; one not giving complete rest; a half close.
 Imperfect consonances Mus., chords like the third and sixth, whose ratios are less simple than those of the fifth and forth.
 Imperfect flower Bot., a flower wanting either stamens or pistils. --Gray.
 Imperfect interval Mus., one a semitone less than perfect; as, an imperfect fifth.
 Imperfect number Math., a number either greater or less than the sum of its several divisors; in the former case, it is called also a defective number; in the latter, an abundant number.
 Imperfect obligations Law, obligations as of charity or gratitude, which cannot be enforced by law.
 Imperfect power Math., a number which can not be produced by taking any whole number or vulgar fraction, as a factor, the number of times indicated by the power; thus, 9 is a perfect square, but an imperfect cube.
 Imperfect tense Gram., a tense expressing past time and incomplete action.