<OL TYPE="1"><LI>any first thing, from which the others belonging to some series or composite whole take their rise, an element, first principal<OL TYPE="a"><LI>the letters of the alphabet as the elements of speech, not however the written characters, but the spoken sounds<LI>the elements from which all things have come, the material causes of the universe<LI>the heavenly bodies, either as parts of the heavens or (as others think) because in them the elements of man, life and destiny were supposed to reside<LI>the elements, rudiments, primary and fundamental principles of any art, science, or discipline<OL TYPE="1"><LI>i.e. of mathematics, Euclid's geometry</OL></OL></OL>