universal

UNIVERS'AL, adjective [Latin universalis; unus and versor.] 1. All; extending to or comprehending the whole number, quantity or space; as universal ruin; universal good; universal benevolence. The universal cause acts not by partial, but by general laws. 2. Total; whole. From harmony, from heav'nly harmony, this universal frame began. 3. Comprising all the particulars; as universal kinds. 4. In botany, a universal umbel, is a primary or general umbel; the first or largest set of rays in a compound umbel; opposed to partial. A universal involucre is placed at the foot of a universal umbel. Universal instrument, is one which measures all kinds of distances, lengths, etc.; as the pantometer or holometer. Universal dial, is a dial by which the hour may be found by the sun in any part of the world, or under any elevation of the pole. Universal proposition. [See the noun.] UNIVERS'AL, noun [See the adjective.] 1. In logic, a universal is complex or incomplex. A complex universal is either a universal proposition, as 'every whole is greater than its parts, ' or whatever raises a manifold conception in the mind, as the definition of a reasonable animal. An incomplex universal is what produces one conception only in the mind, and is a simple thing respecting many; as human nature, which relates to every individual in which it is found. 2. The whole; the general system of the universe. [Not in use.]