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Rule; dominion; control. Cowper. When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway, The post of honor is a private station. Addison.

the superfluous juices. -- Sweating sickness (Med.), a febrile epidemic disease which prevailed in some countries of Europe, but particularly in England, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, characterized by profuse sweating. Death often occured in a few hours.

flattering. -- Syc"o*phant`ish*ly, adv. Sycophantish satirists that forever humor the prevailing folly. De Quincey.

action (originally as advocated and practiced by the French Confédération Générale du Travail) which aims to abolish the present political and social system by means of the general strike (as distinguished from the local or sectional strike) and direct action of whatever kind (as distinguished from action which takes…

here another left off; to keep up in continuous succession. Soon as the evening shades prevail, The moon takes up the wondrous tale. Addison.

One who temporizes; one who yields to the time, or complies with the prevailing opinions, fashions, or occasions; a trimmer. A sort of temporizers, ready to embrace and maintain all that is, or shall be, proposed, in hope of preferment. Burton.

Extreme pain; violent pang; anguish; agony; especially, one of the pangs of travail in childbirth, or purturition. Prodogious motion felt, and rueful throes. Milton.

Pain; especially, pain of travail; throe. [Obs.] Spenser. Dryden.

Hour of travail, delivery, or parturition. She was within one month of her time. Clarendon.

One who complies with prevailing opinions, whatever they may be; a timeserver. Timepleasers, flatterers, foes to nobleness. Shak.

The prevailing fashion or mode; vogue; as, things of ton. Byron. If our people of ton are selfish, at any rate they show they are selfish. Thackeray. Bon ton. See in the Vocabulary.

General or prevailing character or style, as of morals, manners, or sentiment, in reference to a scale of high and low; as, a low tone of morals; a tone of elevated sentiment; a courtly tone of manners.

To labor; to travail. [Obsoles.] Hooker.

To obtain victory; to be successful; to prevail. Triumphing over death, and chance, and thee, O Time. Milton. On this occasion, however, genius triumphed. Macaulay.

approachable Unartificial Unartistic Unassailable Unattainable Unattentive Unauthentic Unavailable Unbailable Unbearable Unbeautiful Unbeliefful Unbelievable Unbeneficial Unbenevolent Unblamable Unblemishable Unblissful Unboastful Unbold Unbookish Unbounteous Unbribable Unbrotherly Unburdensome Unbusinesslike Unbusy Un…

To free from clouds; to unvail; to clear from obscurity, gloom, sorrow, or the like. Beau. & Fl.

indefinite; not bounded by proper exceptions; as, unlimited terms. "Nothing doth more prevail than unlimited generalities." Hooker.

l upward. I. Watts. Looking inward, we are stricken dumb; looking upward, we speak and prevail. Hooker.

To make use of; to convert to one's service; to avail one's self of; to employ; to put a purpose; as, to use a plow; to use a chair; to use time; to use flour for food; to use water for irrigation. Launcelot Gobbo, use your legs. Shak. Some other means I have which may be used. Milton.

See 2d Vail, 3.