syllogize, syllogise

i. [ Fr.syllogizer; Greek syllogizomai.] [SYLLOGISM.] To reason by means of syllogisms. "To teach boys to syllogise , or frame arguments and refute them, without any real inward knowledge of the question."- Watts : Logic , pt. iii., ch. ii. *syl-lô-giz-er, s. [Eng. syllogiz (e); -er.] One who syllogizes; one who reasons by syllogisms. "Every syllogizer is not presently a match to cope with Bellarmine, Bar on i us, Stap let on."- Sir E. Dering: Speeches, p. 150. sylph, s . [Fr. sylphe , from Gr. silphē a kind of beetle or grub.] An imaginary being inhabiting the air, holding an intermediate place between material and immaterial beings. Sylphs are represented as male and female, having many human characteristics, and as mortal, but without a soul. In modern language the word is used as a feminine, and is applied figuratively to a woman of graceful and slender proportions. "The gnomes, or demons of earth, delight in mischief; but the sylphs , whose habitation is in the air, are the best conditioned creatures imaginable; for they say, any mortals may enjoy the most intimate familiarities with these gentle spirits upon a condition very easy to all adepts, an inviolate preservation of chastity." -Pope: Letter to Mrs. A. Fermor on the Rape of the Lock.