Noun

(en noun)

Physical matter; material.

* 1699 , , Heads designed for an essay on conversations

Study gives strength to the mind; conversation, grace: the first apt to give stiffness, the other suppleness: one gives substance and form to the statue, the other polishes it.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Welcome to the plastisphere , passage=Plastics are energy-rich substances , which is why many of them burn so readily. Any organism that could unlock and use that energy would do well in the Anthropocene. Terrestrial bacteria and fungi which can manage this trick are already familiar to experts in the field.}}

The essential part of anything; the most vital part.

* (John Dryden) (1631-1700)

Heroic virtue did his actions guide, / And he the substance , not the appearance, chose.

* Bishop Burnet

This edition is the same in substance with the Latin.

* (Edmund Burke) (1729-1797)

It is insolent in words, in manner; but in substance it is not only insulting, but alarming.

Substantiality; solidity; firmness.

Material possessions; estate; property; resources.

* Bible, (w) xv. 13

And there wasted his substance with riotous living.

* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)

Thy substance , valued at the highest rate, / Cannot amount unto a hundred marks.

* (Jonathan Swift) (1667–1745)

We are destroying many thousand lives, and exhausting our substance , but not for our own interest.

Drugs (illegal narcotics)

(theology) Hypostasis.

Noun

(en noun)

The core, center, or essence of an object or system.

the kernel of an argument

The central (usually edible) part of a nut, especially once the hard shell has been removed.

A single seed or grain, especially of corn or wheat.

(US) The stone of certain fruits, such as peaches or plums.

A small mass around which other matter is concreted; a nucleus; a concretion or hard lump in the flesh.

(computing) The central part of many computer operating systems which manages the system's resources and the communication between hardware and software components.

(calculus) A function used to define an integral transform.

The Dirichlet kernel convolved with a function yields its Fourier series approximation.

(mathematics) A set of pairs of a mapping's domain which are mapped to the same value.

(mathematics, algebra) Those elements, in the domain of a function, which the function maps to zero.

If a function is continuous then its kernel is a closed set.

(mathematics, fuzzy set theory) The set of members of a fuzzy set that are fully included (i.e., whose grade of membership is 1).

(slang) The human clitoris.

* 2014 , Karyn Gerrard, Irene Preston, Lotchie Burton et al'', ''Summer Heat: 10 Spicy Romances That Sizzle

Using the blunt end of one of the vibraphone mallets, he pried open her folds. With the balled end of the other, he rhythmically rolled over her kernel .