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A trial before the principal performance; a prelude; hence, an introductory essay or exercise. "Domestic prolusions." Thackeray. Her presence was in some measure a restraint on the worthy divine, whose prolusion lasted. Sir W. Scott.

operation designed to establish or discover a fact or truth; an act of testing; a test; a trial. For whatsoever mother wit or art Could work, he put in proof. Spenser. You shall have many proofs to show your skill. Ford. Formerly, a very rude mode of ascertaining the strength of spirits was practiced, called the proof.…

To gain experience of the good or evil of; to know by trial; to experience; to suffer. Where she, captived long, great woes did prove. Spenser.

compose rightly. -- To put to the sword, to kill with the sword; to slay. -- To put to trial, or on trial, to bring to a test; to try. -- To put trust in, to confide in; to repose confidence in. -- To put up. (a) To pass unavenged; to overlook; not to punish or resent; to put up with; as, to put up indignities. [O…

A box used in the British mint as a place of deposit for certain sample coins taken for a trial of the weight and fineness of metal before it is sent from the mint. Mushet.

To become quelled; to become cast down; to sink under trial or apprehension of danger; to lose the spirit and power of resistance; to lose heart; to give way; to shrink; to cower. The atheist power shall quail, and confess his fears. I. Taylor. Stouter hearts than a woman's have quailed in this terrible winter. Longfel…

An officer whose business it is to examine and prepare causes for trial in the ecclesiastical courts.

s to be due by the evidence of a court of record, as upon a judgment or a cognizance. -- Trial by record, a trial which is had when a matter of record is pleaded, and the opposite party pleads that there is no such record. In this case the trial is by inspection of the record itself, no other evidence being admissible…

Crying for mercy, as a combatant in the trial by battle; yielding; cowardly; mean-spirited; craven. "This recreant knight." Spenser.

ngitude, etc., of a heavenly body, due to the effect of atmospheric refraction. -- Terrestrial refraction, the change in the apparent altitude of a distant point on or near the earth's surface, as the top of a mountain, arising from the passage of light from it to the eye through atmospheric strata of varying density.…

To free, wholly or partly, from any burden, trial, evil, distress, or the like; to give ease, comfort, or consolation to; to give aid, help, or succor to; to support, strengthen, or deliver; as, to relieve a besieged town. Now lend assistance and relieve the poor. Dryden.

A case for trial which can not be tried during the term; a postponed case. [Eng.]

To make trial of again; to undergo or encounter again. [Obs.] Waller.

Not enduring proof or trial; not of standard purity or fineness; disallowed; rejected. [Obs.] Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them. Jer. vi. 30.

In Spanish countries, a court or trial held, sometimes as long as six months, by a newly elected official, as the governor of a province, to examine into the conduct of a predecessor.

That which retards; an obstacle; an obstruction. Hills, sloughs, and other terrestrial retardations. Sir W. Scott.

stoma, Plethodon, and various allied genera, especially those that are more or less terrestrial in their habits.

ften causes lameness. -- Sand cricket (Zoöl.), any one of several species of large terrestrial crickets of the genus Stenophelmatus and allied genera, native of the sandy plains of the Western United States. -- Sand cusk (Zoöl.), any ophidiod fish. See Illust. under Ophidiod. -- Sand dab (Zoöl.), a small American fl…

Trial by sample; assay; sample; specimen; smack. [Obs.] if those principal works of God . . . be but certain tastes and saus, as if were, of that final benefit. Hooker. Thy tongue some say of breeding breathes. Shak.

across the prize ring; up to which boxers are brought when they join fight; hence, test, trial, or proof of courage; as, to bring to the scratch; to come up to the scratch. [Cant] Grose.