1. I, the ninth letter of the English alphabet, takes its form from the Phœnician, through the Latin and the Greek. The Phœnician letter was probably of Egyptian origin. Its original value was nearly the same as that of the Italian I, or long e as in mete. Etymologically I is most closely related to e, y, j, g; as in dint, dent, beverage, L. bibere; E. kin, AS. cynn; E. thin, AS. þynne; E. dominion, donjon, dungeon. In English I has two principal vowel sounds: the long sound, as in pīne, īce; and the short sound, as in p&ibreve_;n. It has also three other sounds: (a) That of e in term, as in thirst. (b) That of e in mete (in words of foreign origin), as in machine, pique, regime. (c) That of consonant y (in many words in which it precedes another vowel), as in bunion, million, filial, Christian, etc. It enters into several digraphs, as in fail, field, seize, feign. friend; and with o often forms a proper diphtong, as in oil, join, coin.

See Guide to Pronunciation, §§ 98-106. [ 1913 Webster ]

The dot which we place over the small or lower case i dates only from the 14th century. The sounds of I and J were originally represented by the same character, and even after the introduction of the form J into English dictionaries, words containing these letters were, till a comparatively recent time, classed together. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. In our old authors, I was often used for ay (or aye), yes, which is pronounced nearly like it. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. As a numeral, I stands for 1, II for 2, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

pron. [ poss. My r Mine object. Me pl. nom. We poss. Our r Ours object. Us ] [ OE. i, ich, ic, AS. ic; akin to OS. & D. ik, OHG. ih, G. ich, Icel. ek, Dan. jeg, Sw. jag, Goth. ik, OSlav. az', Russ. ia, W. i, L. ego, Gr. 'egw`, 'egw`n, Skr. aham. √179. Cf. Egoism. ] The nominative case of the pronoun of the first person; the word with which a speaker or writer denotes himself. [ 1913 Webster ]

prefix. See Y-. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ or }. [ OE. y-, i-, AS. ge-, akin to D. & G. ge-, OHG. gi-, ga-, Goth. ga-, and perhaps to Latin con-; originally meaning, together. Cf. Com-, Aware, Enough, Handiwork, Ywis. ] A prefix of obscure meaning, originally used with verbs, adverbs, adjectives, nouns, and pronouns. In the Middle English period, it was little employed except with verbs, being chiefly used with past participles, though occasionally with the infinitive. Ycleped, or yclept, is perhaps the only word not entirely obsolete which shows this use. [ 1913 Webster ]

That no wight mighte it see neither yheere. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Neither to ben yburied nor ybrent. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Some examples of Chaucer's use of this prefix are; ibe, ibeen, icaught, ycome, ydo, idoon, ygo, iproved, ywrought. It inough, enough, it is combined with an adjective. Other examples are in the Vocabulary. [ 1913 Webster ] Spenser and later writers frequently employed this prefix when affecting an archaic style, and sometimes used it incorrectly. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Indoleacetic acid, a plant hormone promoting elongation of stems and roots. [ Acronym ]
Syn. -- indoleacetic acid. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ Gr. &unr_;, &unr_;, medicine + -logy. ] (Med.) Materia Medica; that branch of therapeutics which treats of remedies. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. iambe. See Lambus. ] An iambus or iambic. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. iambicus, Gr. &unr_;: cf. F. iambique. ] 1. (Pros.) Consisting of a short syllable followed by a long one, or of an unaccented syllable followed by an accented; as, an iambic foot. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Pertaining to, or composed of, iambics; as, an iambic verse; iambic meter. See Lambus. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. (Pros.) (a) An iambic foot; an iambus. (b) A verse composed of iambic feet. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The following couplet consists of iambic verses. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thy gen- | ius calls | thee not | to pur- | chase fame
In keen | iam- | bics, but | mild an- | agram. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A satirical poem (such poems having been anciently written in iambic verse); a satire; a lampoon. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Iambic. [ Obs. or R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]