Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Material \Ma*te"ri*al\, a. [L. materialis, fr. materia stuff,
matter: cf. F. mat['e]riel. See {Matter}, and cf.
{Mat['E]riel}.]
1. Consisting of matter; not spiritual; corporeal; physical;
as, material substance or bodies.
The material elements of the universe. --Whewell.
2. Hence: Pertaining to, or affecting, the physical nature of
man, as distinguished from the mental or moral nature;
relating to the bodily wants, interests, and comforts.
3. Of solid or weighty character; not insubstantial; of
cinsequence; not be dispensed with; important.
Discourse, which was always material, never
trifling. --Evelyn.
I shall, in the account of simple ideas, set down
only such as are most material to our present
purpose. --Locke.
4. (Logic.) Pertaining to the matter, as opposed to the form,
of a thing. See {Matter}.
{Material cause}. See under {Cause}.
{Material evidence} (Law), evidence which conduces to the
proof or disproof of a relevant hypothesis. --Wharton.
Syn: Corporeal; bodily; important; weighty; momentous;
essential.
Cause \Cause\ (k[add]z), n. [F. cause, fr. L. causa. Cf.
{Cause}, v., {Kickshaw}.]
1. That which produces or effects a result; that from which
anything proceeds, and without which it would not exist.
Cause is substance exerting its power into act, to
make one thing begin to be. --Locke.
2. That which is the occasion of an action or state; ground;
reason; motive; as, cause for rejoicing.
3. Sake; interest; advantage. [Obs.]
I did it not for his cause. --2 Cor. vii.
12.
4. (Law) A suit or action in court; any legal process by
which a party endeavors to obtain his claim, or what he
regards as his right; case; ground of action.
5. Any subject of discussion or debate; matter; question;
affair in general.
What counsel give you in this weighty cause! --Shak.
6. The side of a question, which is espoused, advocated, and
upheld by a person or party; a principle which is
advocated; that which a person or party seeks to attain.
God befriend us, as our cause is just. --Shak.
The part they take against me is from zeal to the
cause. --Burke.
{Efficient cause}, the agent or force that produces a change
or result.
{Final cause}, the end, design, or object, for which anything
is done.
{Formal cause}, the elements of a conception which make the
conception or the thing conceived to be what it is; or the
idea viewed as a formative principle and co["o]perating
with the matter.
{Material cause}, that of which anything is made.
{Proximate cause}. See under {Proximate}.
{To make common cause with}, to join with in purposes and
aims. --Macaulay.
Syn: Origin; source; mainspring; motive; reason; incitement;
inducement; purpose; object; suit; action.