Ef*fect" (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Effected;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Effecting.]
1. To produce, as a
cause or agent; to cause to be.
So great a body
such exploits to effect.
Daniel. 2. To bring to pass; to execute; to enforce; to achieve; to accomplish.
To effect that which the divine counsels had decreed.
Bp. Hurd.
They sailed away
without effecting their purpose.
Jowett (Th. ). Syn. -- To accomplish; fulfill; achieve; complete; execute; perform; attain. See Accomplish.
Ef*fect" (?), n. [L. effectus, fr. efficere, effectum,
to effect; ex + facere to make: cf. F. effet, formerly also spelled effect. See Fact.]
1. Execution; performance; realization; operation; as, the law goes into effect in May.
That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
The effect and it.
Shak. 2.
Manifestation; expression; sign.
All the large effects
That troop with majesty.
Shak.
3. In general: That which is produced by an agent or cause; the
event which follows immediately from an antecedent, called the cause; result; consequence; outcome; fruit; as, the effect of luxury.
The effect is the unfailing index of the amount
of the cause.
Whewell.
4. Impression left on the mind; sensation
produced.
Patchwork . .
. introduced for oratorical effect.
J. C. Shairp. The
effect was heightened
by the wild
and lonely nature of the
place.
W.
Irving. 5. Power to produce results; efficiency;
force; importance; account; as, to speak with
effect.
6.
Consequence intended; purpose; meaning; general intent; -- with to.
They spake to
her to that
effect.
2 Chron. xxxiv.
22. 7. The purport; the sum and substance. "The effect of his intent." Chaucer.
8. Reality; actual meaning; fact, as distinguished from mere appearance.
No other in effect than what it
seems.
Denham. 9. pl.
Goods; movables; personal estate; -- sometimes used to embrace real as well as personal property; as, the people escaped from the town with
their effects.
For effect, for an exaggerated impression or excitement. -- In effect, in fact; in substance. See 8, above. -- Of no effect, Of none effect, To no effect, or Without effect, destitute
of results, validity, force, and the like; vain; fruitless. "Making the word of God
of none effect through your tradition." Mark vii. 13. "All my study be
to no effect." Shak. -- To
give effect to, to make valid; to carry out
in practice; to push to its results. -- To take effect, to become operative, to accomplish aims. Shak.
Syn. -- Effect, Consequence, Result. These words indicate things which arise out of
some antecedent, or follow as
a consequent. Effect, which may be regarded as the generic term, denotes that which springs directly from something which can properly be termed a cause. A consequence is more remote, not being strictly caused, nor yet a mere sequence, but following out of and following indirectly,
or in the train of events, something on which it truly depends. A result is still more remote and variable, like the rebound of an elastic
body which falls in very different directions. We may foresee the effects of a measure, may conjecture its consequences, but can rarely discover its final results.
Resolving all events, with their effects
And manifold results, into
the will
And arbitration wise of the Supreme.
Cowper.
Shun the bitter consequence, for know,
The day thou eatest thereof, . . . thou shalt die.
Milton.
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