Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Determinant

De·ter′mi·nant (·nant), a. [L. determinans, p. pr. of determinare: cf. F. déterminant.] Serving to determine or limit; determinative.

De·ter′mi·nant, n. 1. That which serves to determine; that which causes determination.

2. (Math.) The sum of a series of products of several numbers, these products being formed according to certain specified laws; thus, the determinant of the nine numbers a, b, c,
a′, b′, c′,
a′′, b′′, c′′, is a b′ c′′ - a b′′ c′ + a′ b′′ c] - a′ b c′′ + a′′ b′ c. The determinant is written by placing the numbers from which it is formed in a square between two vertical lines. The theory of determinants forms a very important branch of modern mathematics.

3. (Logic) A mark or attribute, attached to the subject or predicate, narrowing the extent of both, but rendering them more definite and precise. Abp. Thomson.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.