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two such kingdoms did content Without much fall of blood. Shak. The Lord said unto me, Distress not the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle. Deut. ii. 9. In ambitious strength I did Contend against thy valor. Shak.

A kind of buttress of masonry to strengthen a revetment wall.

A creatress. [R.]

A distressing sensation, or sound, like that occasioned by the creeping of insects. A creep of undefinable horror. Blackwood's Mag. Out of the stillness, with gathering creep, Like rising wind in leaves. Lowell.

An embrasure or indentation in a battlement; a loophole in a fortress; an indentation; a notch. See Merlon, and Illust. of Battlement.

inkle; to cause to ripple. Cf. Crimp. The lover with the myrtle sprays Adorns his crisped tresses. Drayton. Along the crisped shades and bowers. Milton. The crisped brooks, Rolling on orient pearl and sands of gold. Milton.

lness, or ill humor; as, a cross man or woman. He had received a cross answer from his mistress. Jer. Taylor.

To utter lamentations; to lament audibly; to express pain, grief, or distress, by weeping and sobbing; to shed tears; to bawl, as a child. Ye shall cry for sorrow of heart. Is. lxv. 14. I could find it in my heart to disgrace my man's apparel and to cry like a woman. Shak.

he end of a sleeve; the part of a sleeve turned back from the hand. He would visit his mistress in a morning gown, band,short cuffs, and a peaked beard. Arbuthnot.

Trouble; embarrassment; distress. [Obs.] [Written also comber.] A place of much distraction and cumber. Sir H. Wotton. Sage counsel in cumber. Sir W. Scott.

Shak. To make dainty, to assume or affect delicacy or fastidiousness. [Obs.] Ah ha, my mistresses! which of you all Will now deny to dance She that makes dainty, She, I'll swear, hath corns. Shak.

A mistress of a family, who is a lady; a womam in authority; especially, a lady. Then shall these lords do vex me half so much, As that proud dame, the lord protector's wife. Shak.

is time to dance off. Thackeray. More dances my rapt heart Than when I first my wedded mistress saw. Shak. Shadows in the glassy waters dance. Byron. Where rivulets dance their wayward round. Wordsworth. To dance on a rope, or To dance on nothing, to be hanged.

A state of distress or trouble. A day of clouds and of thick darkness. Joel. ii. 2. Prince of darkness, the Devil; Satan. "In the power of the Prince of darkness." Locke.

At a high rate or price; grievously. He buys his mistress dearly with his throne. Dryden.

Profound; thorough; complete; unmixed; intense; heavy; heartfelt; as, deep distress; deep melancholy; deep horror. "Deep despair." Milton. "Deep silence." Milton. "Deep sleep." Gen. ii. 21. "Deeper darkness." Hoole. "Their deep poverty." 2 Cor. viii. 2. An attitude of deep respect. Motley.

deeper; as, the water deepens at every cast of the lead; the plot deepens. His blood-red tresses deepening in the sun. Byron.

The act of defilading a fortress, or of raising the exterior works in order to protect the interior. See Defilade.

ce. [Obs.] I defy the surety and the bond. Chaucer. For thee I have defied my constant mistress. Beau. & Fl.

The mistress of Samson, who betrayed him (Judges xvi.); hence, a harlot; a temptress. Other Delilahs on a smaller scale Burns met with during his Dumfries sojourn. J. C. Shairp.