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presently before the court; a case under argument. -- In bar of, as a sufficient reason against; to prevent. -- Matter in bar, or Defence in bar, a plea which is a final defense in an action. -- Plea in bar, a plea which goes to bar or defeat the plaintiff's action absolutely and entirely. -- Trial at bar (Eng. Law…

A barbarous, cruel, or brutal action; an outrage. A heinous barbarism . . . against the honor of marriage. Milton.

adopt a foreign or barbarous mode of speech. The ill habit . . . of wretched barbarizing against the Latin and Greek idiom, with their untutored Anglicisms. Milton.

extension of slavery, public debts, corporate privileges, etc., and supported Van Buren against Cass for president in 1848; --opposed to Hunker. [Political Cant, U. S.]

The act of closing the doors of a schoolroom against a schoolmaster; -- a boyish mode of rebellion in schools. Swift.

To gain or win. [Obs.] Some think to bear it by speaking a great word. Bacon. She was . . . found not guilty, through bearing of friends and bribing of the judge. Latimer.

A kind of movable dam, in one form consisting of two leaves resting against each other at the top when raised and folding down one over the other when lowered, for deepening shallow parts in a river.

To dash against, or strike, as with water or wind. A frozen continent . . . beat with perpetual storms. Milton.

The process of sailing against the wind by tacks in zigzag direction.

To entangle or run against so as to impede motion.

rofit; support; defense; vindication. In behalf of his mistress's beauty. Sir P. Sidney. Against whom he had contracted some prejudice in behalf of his nation. Clarendon. In behalf of, in the interest of. -- On behalf of, on account of; on the part of.

A process issued by a presiding judge or by a court against a person guilty of some contempt, or indicted for some crime; -- so called in distinction from a justice's warrant.

To gain advantage; to make improvement; to profit; as, he will benefit by the change.

,n.A kind of neckcloth. [Obs.] A treatise against the cravat and berdash. Steele.

urisdiction as a mare clausum. A court of arbitration, meeting in Paris in 1893, decided against the claim of the United States, but established regulations for the preservation of the fur seal.

To speak or arrange for beforehand; to order or engage against a future time; as, to bespeak goods, a right, or a favor. Concluding, naturally, that to gratify his avarice was to bespeak his favor. Sir W. Scott.

. are now established for best, and not to be mended." Milton. -- To get the best of, to gain an advantage over, whether fairly or unfairly. -- To make the best of. (a) To improve to the utmost; to use or dispose of to the greatest advantage. "Let there be freedom to carry their commodities where they can make the be…

To gain an ascendency over by charms or incantations; to affect (esp. to injure) by witchcraft or sorcery. See how I am bewitched; behold, mine arm Is like a blasted sapling withered up. Shak.

ong the complainant has suffered from the defendant, or a fault committed by some person against a law.

Palmately branched, with the branches again palmated.