Neg"a*tive (?), a. [F.
négatif, L. negativus, fr. negare to
deny. See Negation.] 1. Denying;
implying, containing, or asserting denial, negation or refusal;
returning the answer no to an inquiry or request; refusing
assent; as, a negative answer; a negative opinion; --
opposed to affirmative.
If thou wilt confess,
Or else be impudently negative.
Shak.
Denying me any power of a negative
voice.
Eikon Basilike.
Something between an affirmative bow and a
negative shake.
Dickens.
2. Not positive; without affirmative
statement or demonstration; indirect; consisting in the absence of
something; privative; as, a negative argument; a
negative morality; negative criticism.
There in another way of denying Christ, . . . which is
negative, when we do not acknowledge and confess
him.
South.
3. (Logic) Asserting absence of
connection between a subject and a predicate; as, a negative
proposition.
4. (Photog.) Of or pertaining to a
picture upon glass or other material, in which the lights and shades
of the original, and the relations of right and left, are
reversed.
5. (Chem.) Metalloidal; nonmetallic; -
- contracted with positive or basic; as, the nitro
group is negative.
&fist; This word, derived from electro-negative, is now
commonly used in a more general sense, when acidiferous is the
intended signification.
Negative crystal. (a) A
cavity in a mineral mass, having the form of a crystal.
(b) A crystal which has the power of negative
double refraction. See refraction. -- negative
electricity (Elec.), the kind of electricity
which is developed upon resin or ebonite when rubbed, or which
appears at that pole of a voltaic battery which is connected with the
plate most attacked by the exciting liquid; -- formerly called
resinous electricity. Opposed to positive electricity.
Formerly, according to Franklin's theory of a single electric fluid,
negative electricity was supposed to be electricity in a degree below
saturation, or the natural amount for a given body. see
Electricity. -- Negative eyepiece.
(Opt.) see under Eyepiece. -- Negative
quantity (Alg.), a quantity preceded by the
negative sign, or which stands in the relation indicated by this sign
to some other quantity. See Negative sign (below). --
Negative rotation, right-handed rotation. See
Right-handed, 3. -- Negative sign,
the sign -, or minus (opposed in signification to +, or
plus), indicating that the quantity to which it is prefixed is
to be subtracted from the preceding quantity, or is to be reckoned
from zero or cipher in the opposite direction to that of quanties
having the sign plus either expressed or understood; thus, in
a - b, b is to be substracted from a, or
regarded as opposite to it in value; and -10° on a thermometer
means 10° below the zero of the scale.
Neg"a*tive, n. [Cf. F.
négative.] 1. A proposition by
which something is denied or forbidden; a conception or term formed
by prefixing the negative particle to one which is positive; an
opposite or contradictory term or conception.
This is a known rule in divinity, that there is no
command that runs in negatives but couches under it a positive
duty.
South.
2. A word used in denial or refusal; as,
not, no.
&fist; In Old England two or more negatives were often joined
together for the sake of emphasis, whereas now such expressions are
considered ungrammatical, being chiefly heard in iliterate speech. A
double negative is now sometimes used as nearly or quite equivalent
to an affirmative.
No wine ne drank she, neither white nor
red.
Chaucer.
These eyes that never did nor never shall
So much as frown on you.
Shak.
3. The refusal or withholding of assents;
veto.
If a kind without his kingdom be, in a civil sense,
nothing, then . . . his negative is as good as
nothing.
Milton.
4. That side of a question which denies or
refuses, or which is taken by an opposing or denying party; the
relation or position of denial or opposition; as, the question was
decided in the negative.
5. (Photog.) A picture upon glass or
other material, in which the light portions of the original are
represented in some opaque material (usually reduced silver), and the
dark portions by the uncovered and transparent or semitransparent
ground of the picture.
&fist; A negative is chiefly used for producing photographs
by means of the sun's light passing through it and acting upon
sensitized paper, thus producing on the paper a positive picture.
6. (Elect.) The negative plate of a
voltaic or electrolytic cell.
Negative pregnant (Law), a negation
which implies an affirmation.
Neg"a*tive (?), v. t. [imp. &
p. p. Negatived (?); p. pr. & vb.
n. Negativing.] 1. To prove
unreal or untrue; to disprove.
The omission or infrequency of such recitals does not
negative the existence of miracles.
Paley.
2. To reject by vote; to refuse to enact or
sanction; as, the Senate negatived the bill.
3. To neutralize the force of; to
counteract.
