similar, a. and n.
(ˈsɪmɪlə(r))
Also 7 similare.
[ad. F. similaire (= Sp. and Pg. similar), or med.L. *similāris, f. L. similis like: see -ar1, and cf. the earlier similary.]
A. adj.
† 1. Of the same substance or structure throughout; homogeneous; esp. similar parts (see quot. 1704). Also transf. (quot. 1728). Obs.
| (a) 1626 Bacon Sylva §16 Simple Bodies, which consist of severall similare Parts. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxii. 123 Which may be compared..to the Similar parts of mans Body. 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. i. i. 32 The same kind of Nourishment taken in by animals, is turned into Blood, Milk, Flesh, Bones, Nerves, and all the other Similar Parts. 1704 J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Similar, or simple Parts, by Anatomists are called such as are throughout of the same nature and texture, as all the Parts of a Bone are Bony, &c. 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Disease, Diseases of the Solids, he [Boerhaave] considers, either as of the simple, and Similar Parts; Or of the Organical. Similar Diseases are [etc.]. |
| (b) 1669 Boyle Physiol. Ess. (ed. 2) 50 Minerals appearing to the eye either to be perfectly similar, as Metals, or at least to consist but of two or three distinct ingredients, as Cinnaber. 1704 Newton Optics (1721) 4 The Light whose Rays are all alike Refrangible I call Simple, Homogeneal and Similar. |
2. a. Having a marked resemblance or likeness; of a like nature or kind.
| 1611 Cotgr. s.v. Similaire, Similar; like, resembling. 1665 Hooke Microgr. 198 The Carter Spider..has, for two particularities, very few similar creatures that I have met with. 1750 Johnson Rambler No. 78 ¶3 Something similar, or analogous, may be observed. 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. Wks. 1898 II. 124 At home we behold similar beginnings. We are on our guard against similar conclusions. 1819 Shelley Peter Bell 3rd iii. iv, A set Of thieves who by themselves are sent Similar thieves to represent. 1860 Tyndall Glac. ii. i. 229 Dr. Wollaston pointed out a similar fact as regards hearing. 1897 Trotter Life J. Nicholson iii. (1908) 51 The rest of the party were threatened with similar tortures. |
b. Const. to; also formerly with.
| a 1740 Waterland Serm. Wks. 1823 IX. 23 The commandment to love our neighbour, which is a duty second and similar to that of the love of God. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones viii. xiii, They..produce similar effects with Exercise. 1832 Thirlwall in Rem. (1878) III. 86 A legend of similar import with that of the death of Hercules. 1868 Lockyer Elem. Astron. §357 The effect of the Earth's daily movement upon the Sun is precisely similar to its effect upon the stars. 1896 [see B. 2 below]. |
3. spec. a. Math., etc. (See quots.)
| 1704 J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Similar Segments of a Circle are such as contain equal Angles. Ibid., Similar Triangles are such as have all their three Angles respectively equal to one another. 1706 W. Jones Syn. Palmar. Matheseos 72 Similar Products are those whose Corresponding Factors are Proportional. 1798 Hutton Course Math. I. 322 Equiangular triangles are similar, and are proportional to the squares of their like sides. 1823 Brooke Crystallog. 57 If all the planes of any primary form be similar, as those are of the cube, rhomboid, and some other forms. 1840 Lardner Geom. 111 Two geometrical figures which have the same shape or form, but are constructed on a different scale, are said to be similar figures. 1878 Gurney Crystallog. 30 The edges..which are equally inclined to each other are said to be similar. |
b. Mus. Of motion: (see quots.).
| 1861 J. S. Adams 5000 Mus. Terms 91 Similar Motion, that in which two or more parts always ascend or descend at the same time. 1875 Stainer & Barrett Dict. Mus. Terms s.v. Motion, Similar or direct motion is when parts move in the same direction either by single degrees or by skips. |
c. Math. Of two square matrices: such that one of them is equal to the other premultiplied by some matrix whose determinant is not zero and postmultiplied by the inverse of the same matrix.
| 1907 M. Bôcher Introd. Higher Algebra xxi. 283 Two matrices connected by a relation of the form (13) are sometimes called similar matrices. 1937 A. A. Albert Mod. Higher Algebra iv. 78 Every square matrix is similar to its transpose. 1979 S. H. Friedberg et al. Linear Algebra v. 232 Prove that similar matrices have the same trace. |
4. Comb., as similar-looking, similar-sided, similar-sized.
| 1776 Da Costa Elem. Conchol. 87 Equal or similar-sided Bivalves, or whose cardo is central. 1849 D. Campbell Inorg. Chem. 20 A similar-sized tube..at the opposite extremity. 1874 Treas. Bot. 285/1 Similar-looking barks may be produced by very different species. |
B. n.
1. A thing or person similar to or resembling another; a counterpart. Also const. of.
| 1654 Z. Coke Logick 202 Let it be considered whether the Integral part be Similar or dissimilar, for Similars come rarely under consideration. 1719 Samber tr. Boerhaave's Meth. Physick 143 Therefore the Corpuscula of all firm Parts are Similars the most minute. 1763 Churchill Duellist 1, Thou Similar of Lust! 1778 Learning at a Loss II. 110 Admiring the horizontal Verdure of her Father's clipt Hedges; with fifty pretty little Similars full as indolently entertaining. 1831 D. E. Williams Life Sir T. Lawrence I. 7 In manner and conversation, he was one whose similar you seldom met with. 1885 J. Martineau Types Eth. Th. I. i. i. §3. 161 If representative ideas, or similars, are for ever flowing off from all things in heaven and earth. 1894 Cent. Mag. Apr. 872/1 When had the similar of this preacher led the service in that..house of worship? |
2. Med. (See quot.)
| 1896 Allbutt's Syst. Med. I. 222 Hippocrates pointed out the occasional value of similars, that is of drugs which produce symptoms similar to those observed in the disease for which they are given. |