Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Complement?

\Com"ple*ment\, n. [L. complementun: cf. F. compl['e]ment. See {Complete}, v. t., and cf. {Compliment}.] 1. That which fills up or completes; the quantity or number required to fill a thing or make it complete. 2. That which is required to supply a deficiency, or to complete a symmetrical whole. History is the complement of poetry. --Sir J. Stephen. 3. Full quantity, number, or amount; a complete set; completeness. To exceed his complement and number appointed him which was one hundred and twenty persons. --Hakluyt. 4. (Math.) A second quantity added to a given quantity to make it equal to a third given quantity. 5. Something added for ornamentation; an accessory. [Obs.] Without vain art or curious complements. --Spenser. 6. (Naut.) The whole working force of a vessel. 7. (Mus.) The interval wanting to complete the octave; -- the fourth is the complement of the fifth, the sixth of the third. 8. A compliment. [Obs.] --Shak. {Arithmetical compliment of a logarithm}. See under {Logarithm}. {Arithmetical complement of a number} (Math.), the difference between that number and the next higher power of 10; as, 4 is the complement of 6, and 16 of 84. {Complement of an} {arc or angle} (Geom.), the difference between that arc or angle and 90[deg]. {Complement of a parallelogram}. (Math.) See {Gnomon}. {In her complement} (Her.), said of the moon when represented as full.
\Com"ple*ment\, v. t. 1. To supply a lack; to supplement. [R.] 2. To compliment. [Obs.] --Jer. Taylor.