Part 437

Post*pos"i*tive (?), a. [See Postpone.] Placed after another word; as, a postpositive conjunction; a postpositive letter. - - Post*pos"i*tive*ly, adv.

Post*pran"di*al (?), a. [Pref. post- + prandial.] Happening, or done, after dinner; after- dinner; as, postprandial speeches.

Pos*tre`mo*gen"i*ture (?; 135), n. [L. postremus last + genitura birth, geniture.] The right of the youngest born. Mozley & W.

Post`re*mote" (?), a. [Pref. post- + remote.] More remote in subsequent time or order.

Post"rid`er (?), n. One who rides over a post road to carry the mails. Bancroft.

||Post*scap"u*la (?), n. [NL. See Post-, and Scapula.] (Anat.) The part ||of the scapula behind or below the spine, or mesoscapula.

Post*scap"u*lar (?), a. (Anat.) Of or pertaining to the postscapula; infraspinous.

||Post*sce"ni*um (?), n. [L., fr. post + scena a scene.] The part of a ||theater behind the scenes; the back part of the stage of a theater.

Post*scribe" (?), v. t. [L. postscribere. See Postscript.] To make a postscript. [R.] T. Adams.

Post"script (?), n. [L. postscriptus, (assumed) p. p. of postscribere to write after; post after + scribere to write: cf. F. postscriptum. See Post-, and Scribe.] A paragraph added to a letter after it is concluded and signed by the writer; an addition made to a book or composition after the main body of the work has been finished, containing something omitted, or something new occurring to the writer. [Abbrev. P. S.]

Post"script*ed, a. Having a postscript; added in a postscript. [R.] J. Q. Adams.

||Post`scu*tel"lum (?), n. [NL. See Post-, and Scutellum.] (Zoˆl.) The ||hindermost dorsal piece of a thoracic somite of an insect; the plate ||behind the scutellum.

Post*sphe"noid (?), a. [Pref. post- + sphenoid.] (Anat.) Of or pertaining to the posterior part of the sphenoid bone.

Post-tem"po*ral (?), a. [Pref. post- + temporal.] (Anat.) Situated back of the temporal bone or the temporal region of the skull; -- applied especially to a bone which usually connects the supraclavicle with the skull in the pectoral arch of fishes. -- n. A post-temporal bone.

Post*ter"ti*a*ry (?), a. [Pref. post- + tertiary.] (Geol.) Following, or more recent than, the Tertiary; Quaternary.

||Post"-tra`gus (?), n. [NL. See Post-, and Tragus.] (Anat.) A ridge ||within and behind the tragus in the ear of some animals.

Post`-tym*pan"ic (?), a. [Pref. post- + tympanic.] (Anat.) Situated behind the tympanum, or in the skull, behind the auditory meatus.

Pos"tu*lant (?; 135), n. [F., fr. L. postulans, p. pr. of postulare. See Postulate.] One who makes a request or demand; hence, a candidate.

Pos"tu*late (?), n. [L. postulatum a demand, request, prop. p. p. of postulare to demand, prob. a dim. of poscere to demand, prob. for porcscere; akin to G. forschen to search, investigate, Skr. prach to ask, and L. precari to pray: cf. F. postulat. See Pray.] 1. Something demanded or asserted; especially, a position or supposition assumed without proof, or one which is considered as self-evident; a truth to which assent may be demanded or challenged, without argument or evidence.

2. (Geom.) The enunciation of a self- evident problem, in distinction from an axiom, which is the enunciation of a self-evident theorem.

The distinction between a postulate and an axiom lies in this, -- that the latter is admitted to be self-evident, while the former may be agreed upon between two reasoners, and admitted by both, but not as proposition which it would be impossible to deny.

Eng. Cyc.

Pos"tu*late, a. Postulated. [Obs.] Hudibras.

Pos"tu*late (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Postulated (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Postulating.] 1. To beg, or assume without proof; as, to postulate conclusions.

2. To take without express consent; to assume.

The Byzantine emperors appear to have . . . postulated a sort of paramount supremacy over this nation.

W. Tooke.

3. To invite earnestly; to solicit. [Obs.] Bp. Burnet.