from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Multiple \Mul"ti*ple\, a. [Cf. F. multiple, and E. quadruple,
and multiply.]
Containing more than once, or more than one; consisting of
more than one; manifold; repeated many times; having several,
or many, parts.
[1913 Webster]
{Law of multiple proportion} (Chem.), the generalization that
when the same elements unite in more than one proportion,
forming two or more different compounds, the higher
proportions of the elements in such compounds are simple
multiples of the lowest proportion, or the proportions are
connected by some simple common factor; thus, iron and
oxygen unite in the proportions {FeO}, {Fe2O3}, {Fe3O4},
in which compounds, considering the oxygen, 3 and 4 are
simple multiplies of 1. Called also the {Law of Dalton} or
{Dalton's Law}, from its discoverer.
{Multiple algebra}, a branch of advanced mathematics that
treats of operations upon units compounded of two or more
unlike units.
{Multiple conjugation} (Biol.), a coalescence of many cells
(as where an indefinite number of amoeboid cells flow
together into a single mass) from which conjugation proper
and even fertilization may have been evolved.
{Multiple fruits}. (Bot.) See {Collective fruit}, under
{Collective}.
{Multiple star} (Astron.), several stars in close proximity,
which appear to form a single system.
[1913 Webster]