The Collaborative International Dictionary
Complement \Com"ple*ment\, n. [L. complementun: cf. F. compl['e]ment. See Complete, v. t., and cf. Compliment.]
That which fills up or completes; the quantity or number required to fill a thing or make it complete.
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That which is required to supply a deficiency, or to complete a symmetrical whole.
History is the complement of poetry.
--Sir J. Stephen. -
Full quantity, number, or amount; a complete set; completeness.
To exceed his complement and number appointed him which was one hundred and twenty persons.
--Hakluyt. (Math.) A second quantity added to a given quantity to make it equal to a third given quantity.
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Something added for ornamentation; an accessory. [Obs.]
Without vain art or curious complements.
--Spenser. (Naut.) The whole working force of a vessel.
(Mus.) The interval wanting to complete the octave; -- the fourth is the complement of the fifth, the sixth of the third.
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A compliment. [Obs.]
--Shak.Arithmetical compliment of a logarithm. See under Logarithm.
Arithmetical complement of a number (Math.), the difference between that number and the next higher power of 10; as, 4 is the complement of 6, and 16 of 84.
Complement of an arc or Complement of an angle (Geom.), the difference between that arc or angle and 90[deg].
Complement of a parallelogram. (Math.) See Gnomon.
In her complement (Her.), said of the moon when represented as full.