Noah Webster
Linear
LIN'EAR, adjective [Latin linearis.]
1. Pertaining to a line; consisting of lines; in a straight direction.
2. In botany, like a line; slender; of the same breadth throughout, except at the extremities; as linear leaf.
Linear numbers, in mathematics, such as have relation to length only; such is a number which represents one side of a plane figure. If the plane figure is a square, the linear figure is called a root.
Linear problem, that which may be solved geometrically by the intersection of two right lines.