particle

particle is defined in Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913) with 3 senses. The full text of each entry is reproduced verbatim below.

Definitions

  1. 1.Any very small portion or part; the smallest portion; as, he has not a particle of patriotism or virtue. The houses had not given their commissioners authority in the least particle to recede. Clarendon.
  2. 2.(R. C. Ch.) (a) A crumb or little piece of concecrated host. (b) The smaller hosts distributed in the communion of the laity. Bp. Fitzpatrick.
  3. 3.(Gram.) A subordinate word that is never inflected (a preposition, conjunction, interjection); or a word that can not be used except in compositions; as, ward in backward, ly in lovely.

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

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