just

a. [ F. juste, L. justus, fr. jus right, law, justice; orig., that which is fitting; akin to Skr. yu to join. Cf. Injury, Judge, Jury, Giusto. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Conforming or conformable to rectitude or justice; not doing wrong to any; violating no right or obligation; upright; righteous; honest; true; -- said both of persons and things. “O just but severe law!” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

There is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not. Eccl. vii. 20. [ 1913 Webster ]

Just balances, just weights, . . . shall ye have. Lev. xix. 36. [ 1913 Webster ]

How should man be just with God? Job ix. 2. [ 1913 Webster ]

We know your grace to be a man.
Just and upright. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Not transgressing the requirement of truth and propriety; conformed to the truth of things, to reason, or to a proper standard; exact; normal; reasonable; regular; due; as, a just statement; a just inference. [ 1913 Webster ]

Just of thy word, in every thought sincere. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

The prince is here at hand: pleaseth your lordship
To meet his grace just distance 'tween our armies. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

He was a comely personage, a little above just stature. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

Fire fitted with just materials casts a constant heat. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

When all
The war shall stand ranged in its just array. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

Their names alone would make a just volume. Burton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Rendering or disposed to render to each one his due; equitable; fair; impartial; as, just judge. [ 1913 Webster ]

Men are commonly so just to virtue and goodness as to praise it in others, even when they do not practice it themselves. Tillotson. [ 1913 Webster ]

Just intonation. (Mus.) (a) The correct sounding of notes or intervals; true pitch. (b) The giving all chords and intervals in their purity or their exact mathematical ratio, or without temperament; a process in which the number of notes and intervals required in the various keys is much greater than the twelve to the octave used in systems of temperament. H. W. Poole.

Syn. -- Equitable; upright; honest; true; fair; impartial; proper; exact; normal; orderly; regular. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. 1. Precisely; exactly; -- in place, time, or degree; neither more nor less than is stated. [ 1913 Webster ]

And having just enough, not covet more. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

The god Pan guided my hand just to the heart of the beast. Sir P. Sidney. [ 1913 Webster ]

To-night, at Herne's oak, just 'twixt twelve and one. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Closely; nearly; almost. [ 1913 Webster ]

Just at the point of death. Sir W. Temple. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Barely; merely; scarcely; only; by a very small space or time; as, he just missed the train; just too late. [ 1913 Webster ]

A soft Etesian gale
But just inspired and gently swelled the sail. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

Just now, the least possible time since; a moment ago. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ See Joust. ] To joust. Fairfax. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F., fr. L. justitia, fr. justus just. See Just, a. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. The quality of being just; conformity to the principles of righteousness and rectitude in all things; strict performance of moral obligations; practical conformity to human or divine law; integrity in the dealings of men with each other; rectitude; equity; uprightness. [ 1913 Webster ]

Justice and judgment are the haditation of thy throne. Ps. ixxxix. 11. [ 1913 Webster ]

The king-becoming graces,
As justice, verity, temperance, stableness, . . .
I have no relish of them. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Conformity to truth and reality in expressing opinions and in conduct; fair representation of facts respecting merit or demerit; honesty; fidelity; impartiality; as, the justice of a description or of a judgment; historical justice. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The rendering to every one his due or right; just treatment; requital of desert; merited reward or punishment; that which is due to one's conduct or motives. [ 1913 Webster ]

This even-handed justice
Commends the ingredients of our poisoned chalice
To our own lips. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Agreeableness to right; equity; justness; as, the justice of a claim. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. A person duly commissioned to hold courts, or to try and decide controversies and administer justice. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ This title is given to the judges of the common law courts in England and in the United States, and extends to judicial officers and magistrates of every grade. [ 1913 Webster ]

Bed of justice. See under Bed. --
Chief justice. See in the Vocabulary. --
Justice of the peace (Law), a judicial officer or subordinate magistrate appointed for the conservation of the peace in a specified district, with other incidental powers specified in his commission. In the United States a justice of the peace has jurisdiction to adjudicate certain minor cases, commit offenders, officiate at marriages, etc.; abbreviated JP.

Syn. -- Equity; law; right; rectitude; honesty; integrity; uprightness; fairness; impartiality. -- Justice, Equity, Law. Justice and equity are the same; but human laws, though designed to secure justice, are of necessity imperfect, and hence what is strictly legal is at times far from being equitable or just. Here a court of equity comes in to redress the grievances. It does so, as distinguished from courts of law; and as the latter are often styled courts of justice, some have fancied that there is in this case a conflict between justice and equity. The real conflict is against the working of the law; this a court of equity brings into accordance with the claims of justice. It would be an unfortunate use of language which should lead any one to imagine he might have justice on his side while practicing iniquity (inequity). Justice, Rectitude. Rectitude, in its widest sense, is one of the most comprehensive words in our language, denoting absolute conformity to the rule of right in principle and practice. Justice refers more especially to the carrying out of law, and has been considered by moralists as of three kinds: (1) Commutative justice, which gives every man his own property, including things pledged by promise. (2) Distributive justice, which gives every man his exact deserts. (3) General justice, which carries out all the ends of law, though not in every case through the precise channels of commutative or distributive justice; as we see often done by a parent or a ruler in his dealings with those who are subject to his control. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To administer justice to. [ Obs. ] Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Liable to trial in a court of justice. [ Obs. ] Hayward. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Justiceship. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Administration of justice; procedure in courts of justice. [ Obs. ] Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]