Defn: Of or pertaining to an isthmus, especially to the Isthmus of Corinth, in Greece. Isthmian games (Gr. Antiq.), one of the four great national festivals of Greece, celebrated on the Isthmus of Corinth in the spring of every alternate year. They consisted of all kinds of athletic sports, wrestling, boxing, racing on foot and in chariots, and also contests in music and poetry. The prize was a garland of pine leaves.
ISTHMUS Isth"mus, n.; pl. Isthmuses. Etym: [L. isthmus, Gr. 'isqmo`s a neck, a neck of land between two seas, an isthmus, especially the Isthmus of Corinth; prob. from the root of 'ie`nai to go; cf. Icel. eiedh isthmus. See Issue.] (Geog.)
Defn: A neck or narrow slip of land by which two continents are
connected, or by which a peninsula is united to the mainland; as, the
Isthmus of Panama; the Isthmus of Suez, etc. Isthmus of the fauces.
(Anat.) See Fauces.
ISTLE
Is"tle, n.
Defn: Same as Ixtle.
ISURET
I*su"ret, n. Etym: [Iso- + urea.] (Chem.)
Defn: An artificial nitrogenous base, isomeric with urea, and forming a white crystalline substance; — called also isuretine.
IT
It, pron. Etym: [OE. it, hit, AS. hit; cf. D. het. sq. root181. See
He.]
Defn: The neuter pronoun of the third person, corresponding to the masculine pronoun he and the feminine she, and having the same plural (they, their of theirs, them).
Note: The possessive form its is modern, being rarely found in the writings of Shakespeare and Milton, and not at all in the original King James's version of the Bible. During the transition from the regular his to the anomalous its, it was to some extent employed in the possessive without the case ending. See His, and He. In Dryden's time its had become quite established as the regular form. The day present hath ever inough to do with it owne grief. Genevan Test. Do, child, go to it grandam, child. Shak. It knighthood shall do worse. It shall fright all it friends with borrowing letters. B. Jonson.