Analogies

1 definition found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Analogy \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.
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     Note: Followed by between, to, or with; as, there is an
           analogy between these objects, or one thing has an
           analogy to or with another.
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     Note: 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.
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     2. (Biol.) A relation or correspondence in function, between
        organs or parts which are decidedly different.
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     3. (Geom.) Proportion; equality of ratios.
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     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.
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