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Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Cŏm'ple-ment, n.

noun

n. [Fr. complément, Lat. complementum. See COMPLETE, v. t.] 1. That which fills up, completes, or supplies a deficiency; the quantity or number required to fill a thing or make it complete; fullness or completeness. “To exceed his complement and number appointed him, which was one hundred and twenty persons.” Hackluyt. History is the complement of poetry. Sir J. Stephens.

  1. Something added for ornamentation; an accessory. “Without vain art or curious complements.” Spenser.
  2. (Astron.) The distance of a star from the zenith, as compared with its altitude. Hutton.
  3. (Trigon.) The difference between an arc or angle and 90°.
  4. (Arith.) The difference between a number and 10, 100, 1000, &c. Its principal use is in working proportions by logarithms. Day.
  5. (Mus.) The interval wanting to complete the octave; the fourth is the complement of the fifth, the sixth of the third.