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A vile, dissolute wretch. [Obs.] Milton.

A mean wretch. [Obs.] Shak.

A low, mean wretch [Written also rascalion.]

To extend; to stretch; to thrust out; to put forth, as a limb, a member, something held, or the like. Her tresses yellow, and long straughten, Unto her heeles down they raughten. Rom. of R. Reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side. John xx. 27. Fruit trees, over woody, reached too far Their pampered boughs. Mil…

To stretch out; to draw out into thongs, threads, or filaments.

One who yields in combat, and begs for mercy; a mean-spirited, cowardly wretch. Blackstone. You are all recreants and dastards! Shak.

The mechanical work required to strain an elastic body, as a deflected beam, stretched spring, etc., to the elastic limit; also, the work performed by the body in recovering from such strain.

A rheostat consisting of an open frame on which are stretched spirals of wire. Being freely exposed to the air, they radiate heat rapidly.

A low, vulgar, brutal, foul-mouthed wretch; a lewd fellow. Spenser. Pope. Ribald was almost a class name in the feudal system . . . He was his patron's parasite, bulldog, and tool . . . It is not to be wondered at that the word rapidly became a synonym for everything ruffianly and brutal. Earle.

An instrument used for stretching woolen cloth.

ultuous crowd; a mob; hence, the rabble; the herd of common people. the endless routs of wretched thralls. Spenser. The ringleader and head of all this rout. Shak. Nor do I name of men the common rout. Milton.

nning or returning toward home, or to the point from which the start was made. Cf. Home stretch. (b) (Baseball) See under Home. -- The run, or The common run, etc., ordinary persons; the generality or average of people or things; also, that which ordinarily occurs; ordinary current, course, or kind. I saw nothing else…

A fugitive; a vagabond; an apostate; a renegade. See Renegade. Bunyan. Wretched runagates from the jail. De Quincey. Who has not been a runagate from duty Hare.

misery; distress; a pitiful. [Obs.] It had been hard this ruth for to see. Chaucer. With wretched miseries and woeful ruth. Spenser.

chiefly in poetry. Night, sable goddess! from her ebon throne, In rayless majesty, now stretches forth Her leaden scepter o'er a slumbering world. Young. Sable antelope (Zoöl.), a large South African antelope (Hippotragus niger). Both sexes have long, sharp horns. The adult male is black; the female is dark chestnut a…

Slight; thin; lean; poor. Having Grate on their scranned pipes of wretched straw. Milton.

mp, v. t. Scrimping bar, a device used in connection with a calico printing machine for stretching the fabric breadthwise so that it may be smooth for printing. Knight.

A mean fellow; a wretch. [Obs.] hak.

; grossly opprobrious or loudly jocose in language; scurrilous; as, scurrile taunts. The wretched affectation of scurrile laughter. Cowley. A scurrile or obscene jest will better advance you at the court of Charles than father's ancient name. Sir W. Scott.

The quality or state of being seedy, shabby, or worn out; a state of wretchedness or exhaustion. [Colloq.] G. Eliot. What is called seedness, after a debauch, is a plain proof that nature has been outraged. J. S. Blackie.