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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



751 words match “ANCIENT”

CORDIALITY n.
Relation to the heart. [Obs.] That the ancients had any respect of cordiality or reference unto the heart, will much be doubted. Sir T. Browne.
CORNAGE n.
Anancient tenure of land, which obliged the tenant to give notice of an invasion by blowing a horn.
CORNET n.
A square cap anciently worn as a mark of certain professions.
CORONAL n.
The frontal bone, over which the ancients wore their coronæ or garlands. Hooper.
CORPORAL; CORPORALE n.
communion cloth. Corporal oath, a solemn oath; -- so called from the fact that it was the ancient usage for the party taking it to touch the corporal, or cloth that covered the consecrated elements.
COSMOGRAPHER n.
ing the heavens and the earth. The name of this island is nowhere found among the old and ancient cosmographers. Robynson (More's Utopia).
COTHURN n.
A buskin anciently used by tragic actors on the stage; hence, tragedy in general. The moment had arrived when it was thought that the mask and the cothurn might be assumed with effect. Motley.
COUNTERMARK n.
mpany of London, to attest the standard quality of the gold or silver; a mark added to an ancient coin or medal, to show either its change of value or that it was taken from an enemy.
COURTESY n.
med, And yet is most pretended. Milton. Pardon me, Messer Claudio, if once more I use the ancient courtesies of speech. Longfellow.
CRABBY a.
Crabbed; difficult, or perplexing. "Persius is crabby, because ancient." Marston.
CRANNOG; CRANNOGE n.
One of the stockaded islands in Scotland and Ireland which in ancient times were numerous in the lakes of both countries. They may be regarded as the very latest class of prehistoric strongholds, reaching their greatest development in early historic times, and surviving through the Middle Ages. See also Lake dwellings,…
CRESCENT n.
The ancient symbol of Byzantium or Constantinople. Hence:
CREST n.
it, or separately as an ornament for plate, liveries, and the like. It is a relic of the ancient cognizance. See Cognizance, 4.
CRIMSON n.
To become crimson; to blush. Ancient towers . . . beginning to crimson with the radiant luster of a cloudless July morning. De Quincey.
CRITHOMANCY n.
A kind of divination by means of the dough of the cakes offered in the ancient sacrifices, and the meal strewed over the victims.
CROCODILE n.
able writers) in pursuit of files, etc.; -- called also Nile bird. It is the trochilos of ancient writers. -- Crocodile tears, false or affected tears; hypocritical sorrow; -- derived from the fiction of old travelers, that crocodiles shed tears over their prey.
CROMLECH n.
in a horizontal position upon others. They are found chiefly in countris inhabited by the ancient Celts, and are of a period anterior to the introduction of Christianity into these countries.
CROSS n. 2 definitions
T, or +, with the horizontal piece below the upper end of the upright, or as an X. It was anciently used in the execution of criminals. Nailed to the cross By his own nation. Milton.
CROWD n.
An ancient instrument of music with six strings; a kind of violin, being the oldest known stringed instrument played with a bow. [Written also croud, crowth, cruth, and crwth.] A lackey that . . . can warble upon a crowd a little. B. Jonson.
CROWTH n.
An ancient musical instrument. See 4th Crowd.
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