A*nal"o*gy (&?;), n.; pl.
Analogies (&?;). [L. analogia, Gr. &?;, fr. &?;:
cf. F. analogie. See Analogous.] 1. A
resemblance of relations; an agreement or likeness between things in some
circumstances or effects, when the things are otherwise entirely different.
Thus, learning enlightens the mind, because it is to the mind what
light is to the eye, enabling it to discover things before
hidden.
Followed by between, to, or with; as, there is an
analogy between these objects, or one thing has an analogy to
or with another.
&fist; Analogy is very commonly used to denote similarity or
essential resemblance; but its specific meaning is a similarity of
relations, and in this consists the difference between the argument
from example and that from analogy. In the former, we argue
from the mere similarity of two things; in the latter, from the similarity
of their relations. Karslake.
2. (Biol.) A relation or correspondence in
function, between organs or parts which are decidedly different.
3. (Geom.) Proportion; equality of
ratios.
4. (Gram.) Conformity of words to the
genius, structure, or general rules of a language; similarity of origin,
inflection, or principle of pronunciation, and the like, as opposed to
anomaly. Johnson.
