generant (jenerant)

and n. [ In such pretended generations the generant or active principle is supposed to be the sun, which, being an inanimate body, cannot act otherwise than by his heat. Ray , Works of Creation, ii. II. n. 1. One who or that which generates; a generator. [Rare.] Some believe the soul made by God, some by angels, and some by the generant . Glanville, Scep. Sci., iii. By a regre ion of the values of the mid-parentages the true generants are derived. Francis Galton , in Science, VI. 272. 2. In math., a moving locus, the ensemble of all of whose positions forms another locus, which it is said to generate: as, an isosceles triangle revolving on the perpendicular let fall from its apex to the base is the generant of a right cone. generate (jen'e-rat), v. t .; pret. and pp. gene- rated , ppr. generating . [ gene ratus , pp. of gene rare, beget, procreate, produce, gener- ), a kind, race, family: see genus . Cf. gender, v ., from the same L. verb.] 1. To be- get; procreate; engender by sexual union.- 2. To produce; cause to be; bring into life. Things were generated and destroyed before Saturn was dismembered. Bacon , Physical Fables, i., Expl. And God said, Let the waters generate Reptile with spawn abundant, living soul. Milton , P. L., vii. 387. 3. To cause; form; give origin to. There could, therefore, be little sympathy between them; and centuries of calamities and wrongs had generated a strong antipathy. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vi. A system of pure ethics cannot recognize evil, nor any of those conditions which evil generates . H. Spencer , Social Statics, p. 70. 4. In math., to give rise to, as to a geometrical figure; especially, to move so that the locus of the motion shall constitute (the figure specified): thus, a right line moving with one point fixed generates a conical surface. Generating function. See function. Generating line or figure, in math., that line or figure by the motion of which another figure or solid is supposed to be described or generated. Generating surface, in a boiler, the heating surface, or that on which heat is applied for the generation of steam.