Er"ror (?), n. [OF. error,
errur, F. erreur, L. error, fr. errare to
err. See Err.] 1. A wandering; a roving
or irregular course. [Obs.]
The rest of his journey, his error by
sea.
B. Jonson.
2. A wandering or deviation from the right
course or standard; irregularity; mistake; inaccuracy; something made
wrong or left wrong; as, an error in writing or in printing; a
clerical error.
3. A departing or deviation from the truth;
falsity; false notion; wrong opinion; mistake;
misapprehension.
H&?; judgment was often in error, though his
candor remained unimpaired.
Bancroft.
4. A moral offense; violation of duty; a sin
or transgression; iniquity; fault. Ps. xix. 12.
5. (Math.) The difference between the
approximate result and the true result; -- used particularly in the
rule of double position.
6. (Mensuration) (a)
The difference between an observed value and the true value of a
quantity. (b) The difference between the
observed value of a quantity and that which is taken or computed to
be the true value; -- sometimes called residual
error.
7. (Law.) A mistake in the proceedings
of a court of record in matters of law or of fact.
8. (Baseball) A fault of a player of
the side in the field which results in failure to put out a player on
the other side, or gives him an unearned base.
Law of error, or Law of frequency of
error (Mensuration), the law which expresses the
relation between the magnitude of an error and the frequency with
which that error will be committed in making a large number of
careful measurements of a quantity. -- Probable
error. (Mensuration) See under
Probable. -- Writ of error
(Law), an original writ, which lies after judgment in an
action at law, in a court of record, to correct some alleged error in
the proceedings, or in the judgment of the court. Bouvier.
Burrill.
Syn. -- Mistake; fault; blunder; failure; fallacy;
delusion; hallucination; sin. See Blunder.
