4. A thing may be applied to another thing so as to fit perfectly, as a seal to its impression; hence, a
thing which is adapted to another thing, or which supplements it; that which serves to complete or complement
anything; hence, a person or thing having qualities lacking in another; an opposite.
O counterpart
Of our soft sex, well are you made our lords.
Dryden.
Counterpassant
(Coun"ter*pas`sant) a. [Counter- + passant: cf. F. contrepassant.] (Her.) Passant in
opposite directions; — said of two animals.
Counterplead
(Coun`ter*plead") v. t. To plead the contrary of; to plead against; to deny.
Counterplot
(Coun`ter*plot") v. t. [imp. & p. p. Counterplotted; p. pr. & vb. n. Counterplotting.] To
oppose, as another plot, by plotting; to attempt to frustrate, as a stratagem, by stratagem.
Every wile had proved abortive, every plot had been counterplotted.
De Quinsey.
Counterplot
(Coun"ter*plot`) n. A plot or artifice opposed to another. L'Estrange.
Counterpoint
(Coun"ter*point`) n. [Counter- + point.] An opposite point [Obs.] Sir E. Sandys.
Counterpoint
(Coun"ter*point`), n. [F. contrepoint; cf. It. contrappunto. Cf. Contrapuntal.] (Mus.)
(a) The setting of note against note in harmony; the adding of one or more parts to a given canto fermo
or melody. (b) The art of polyphony, or composite melody, i. e., melody not single, but moving attended
by one or more related melodies. (c) Music in parts; part writing; harmony; polyphonic music. See Polyphony.
Counterpoint, an invention equivalent to a new creation of music.
Whewell.
Counterpoint
(Coun"ter*point`), n. [OF. contrepoincte, corruption of earlier counstepointe, countepointe,
F. courtepointe, fr. L. culcita cushion, mattress (see Quilt, and cf. Cushion) + puncta, fem. p. p. of
pungere to prick The word properly meant a stitched quilt, with the colors broken one into another.] A
coverlet; a cover for a bed, often stitched or broken into squares; a counterpane. See 1st Counterpane.
Embroidered coverlets or counterpoints of purple silk.
Sir T. North.
Counterpoise
(Coun"ter*poise`) v. t. [imp. & p. p. Counterpoised (-poizd`); p. pr. & vb. n. Counterpoising.]
[OE. countrepesen, counterpeisen, F. contrepeser. See Counter, adv., and Poise, v. t. ]
1. To act against with equal weight; to equal in weight; to balance the weight of; to counterbalance.
Weights, counterpoising one another.
Sir K. Digby.
2. To act against with equal power; to balance.
So many freeholders of English will be able to beard and counterpoise the rest.
Spenser.
Counterpoise
(Coun"ter*poise`) n. [OE. countrepese, OF. contrepois, F. contrepods. See Counter,
adv., and Poise, n.]
1. A weight sufficient to balance another, as in the opposite scale of a balance; an equal weight.
Fastening that to our exact balance, we put a metalline counterpoise into the opposite scale.
Boyle.
2. An equal power or force acting in opposition; a force sufficient to balance another force.
The second nobles are a counterpoise to the higher nobility, that they grow not too potent.
Bacon.
