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Esp. in a good sense: The quality or state of deserving well; worth; excellence. Reputation is ... oft got without merit, and lost without deserving. Shak. To him the wit of Greece and Rome was known, And every author's merit, but his own. Pope.

Highness; excellency; -- with a possessive pronoun, a title of dignity; as, their high mightinesses.

A leguminous tree of Guiana and Trinidad (Dimorphandra excelsa); also, its timber, used in shipbuilding and making furniture.

Adrian mortally envied poets, painters, and artificers, in works wherein he had a vein to excel. Bacon.

ar; nearly. "Much suffering heroes." Pope. Thou art much mightier than we. Gen. xxvi. 16. Excellent speech becometh not a fool, much less do lying lips a prince. Prov. xvii. 7. Henceforth I fly not death, nor would prolong Life much. Milton. All left the world much as they found it. Sir W. Temple.

A fabulous narrative; a myth. [R.] May we not ... consider his history of the fall as an excellent mythologue, to account for the origin of human evil Geddes.

s to say; to wit; videlicet; -- introducing a particular or specific designation. For the excellency of the soul, namely, its power of divining dreams; that several such divinations have been made, none Addison.

Excellent in character, skill, or performance, etc.; nice; finished; adroit; as, a neat design; a neat thief.

The quality or state of being noble; superiority of mind or of character; commanding excellence; eminence. Though she hated Amphialus, yet the nobility of her courage prevailed over it. Sir P. Sidney. They thought it great their sovereign to control, And named their pride nobility of soul. Dryden.

Something of unequaled excellence; a peerless thing or person; a nonesuch; -- often used as a name.

Loon. -- Northern lights. See Aurora borealis, under Aurora. -- Northern spy (Bot.), an excellent American apple, of a yellowish color, marked with red.

Of common rank, quality, or ability; not distinguished by superior excellence or beauty; hence, not distinguished in any way; commonplace; inferior; of little merit; as, men of ordinary judgment; an ordinary book. An ordinary lad would have acquired little or no useful knowledge in such a way. Macaulay. Ordinary seaman…

e bivalve mollusk (Schizothærus Nuttallii) found on the northwest coast of America. It is excellent food, and is extensively used by the Indians. -- Sea otter. (Zoöl.) See in the Vocabulary.

To excel in bowing. Young.

To excel in bravery o

To go beyond in performance; to excel; to surpass. An imposture outdoes the original. L' Estrange. I grieve to be outdone by Gay. Swift.

To excel or surpass in learing.

To excel in brightness or luster. Shak.

To excel in mantling; hence, to excel in splendor, as of dress. [R.] And with poetic trappings grace thy prose, Till it outmantle all the pride of verse. Cowper.

To excel. [R.] Shak.