a. [ L. conservabilitis. ] Capable of being preserved from decay or injury. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Conservation, as from injury, defilement, or irregular use. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ An act was ] passed in 1866, for vesting in the Conservators of the River Thames the conservancy of the Thames and Isis. Mozley & W. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. conservans, p. pr. ] Having the power or quality of conservation. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. conservatio: cf. F. conservation. ] The act of preserving, guarding, or protecting; the keeping (of a thing) in a safe or entire state; preservation. [ 1913 Webster ]

A step necessary for the conservation of Protestantism. Hallam. [ 1913 Webster ]

A state without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

Conservation of areas (Astron.), the principle that the radius vector drawn from a planet to the sun sweeps over equal areas in equal times. --
Conservation of energy, or
Conservation of force (Mech.), the principle that the total energy of any material system is a quantity which can neither be increased nor diminished by any action between the parts of the system, though it may be transformed into any of the forms of which energy is susceptible. Clerk Maxwell. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Tending to conserve; preservative. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ For conservatism. ] The disposition and tendency to preserve what is established; opposition to change; the habit of mind; or conduct, of a conservative. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. F. conservatif. ] 1. Having power to preserve in a safe of entire state, or from loss, waste, or injury; preservative. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Tending or disposed to maintain existing institutions; opposed to change or innovation. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Of or pertaining to a political party which favors the conservation of existing institutions and forms of government, as the Conservative party in England; -- contradistinguished from Liberal and Radical. [ 1913 Webster ]

We have always been conscientiously attached to what is called the Tory, and which might with more propriety be called the Conservative, party. Quart. Rev. (1830). [ 1913 Webster ]

Conservative system (Mech.), a material system of such a nature that after the system has undergone any series of changes, and been brought back in any manner to its original state, the whole work done by external agents on the system is equal to the whole work done by the system overcoming external forces. Clerk Maxwell. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who, or that which, preserves from ruin, injury, innovation, or radical change; a preserver; a conserver. [ 1913 Webster ]

The Holy Spirit is the great conservative of the new life. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One who desires to maintain existing institutions and customs; also, one who holds moderate opinions in politics; -- opposed to revolutionary or radical. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Eng. Hist.) A member of the Conservative party. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. The quality of being conservative. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ F. ] A public place of instruction in any special branch, esp. music and the arts. [ See Conservatory, 3 ]. [ 1913 Webster ]