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A discharge of official duty involving frequent change of residence; the custom or practice of discharging official duty in this way; also, a body of persons who thus discharge official duty.

transaction done for private profit; something performed ostensibly as a part of official duty, but really for private gain; a corrupt official business.

irst is chief of the Bureau of Military Justice of the army, the other performs a similar duty for the navy. In England, the designation of a member of the ministry who is the legal adviser of the secretary of state for war, and supreme judge of the proceedings of courts-martial.

eing justified; a showing or proving to be just or conformable to law, justice, right, or duty; defense; vindication; support; as, arguments in justification of the prisoner's conduct; his disobedience admits justification. I hope, for my brother's justification, he wrote this but as an essay or taste of my virtue. Sha…

to vindicate; to maintain or defend as conformable to law, right, justice, propriety, or duty. That to the height of this great argument I may assert eternal providence, And justify the ways of God to men. Milton. Unless the oppression is so extreme as to justify revolution, it would not justify the evil of breaking u…

The right of demanding a duty or toll for a ship entering a port; also, the duty or toll. Bouvier. Wharton.

erve; to adhere to; to fulfill; not to swerve from or violate; to practice or perform, as duty; not to neglect; to be faithful to. I have kept the faith. 2 Tim. iv. 7. Him whom to love is to obey, and keep His great command. Milton.

unite closely; to connect; to engage; as, hearts knit together in love. Thy merit hath my duty strongly knit. Shak. Come , knit hands, and beat the ground, In a light fantastic round. Milton. A link among the days, toknit The generations each to each. Tennyson.

hend clearly and certainly; to understand; to have full information of; as, to know one's duty. O, that a man might know The end of this day's business ere it come! Shak. There is a certainty in the proposition, and we know it. Dryden. Know how sublime a thing it is To suffer and be strong. Longfellow.…

The act or state of knowing; clear perception of fact, truth, or duty; certain apprehension; familiar cognizance; cognition. Knowledge, which is the highest degree of the speculative faculties, consists in the perception of the truth of affirmative or negative propositions. Locke.

in Germany and Austria, which has completed the usual military service and is exempt from duty in time of peace, except that it is called out occasionally for drill.

A slip; an error; a fault; a failing in duty; a slight deviation from truth or rectitude. To guard against those lapses and failings to which our infirmities daily expose us. Rogers.

A duty exacted, in some fairs or markets, for the right to carry things where one will. [Obs.]

, and administered in courts martial. Kent. Warren's Blackstone. -- Moral law,the law of duty as regards what is right and wrong in the sight of God; specifically, the ten commandments given by Moses. See Law, 2. -- Mosaic, or Ceremonial, law. (Script.) See Law, 3. -- Municipal, or Positive, law, a rule prescribed b…

To impose, as a command or a duty; as, to lay commands on one.

wherefore I am sent into the world. Tyndale. He came and told his legacy. Chapman. Legacy duty, a tax paid to government on legacies. Wharton. -- Legacy hunter, one who flatters and courts any one for the sake of a legacy.

An officer who bore an ax and fasces or rods, as ensigns of his office. His duty was to attend the chief magistrates when they appeared in public, to clear the way, and cause due respect to be paid to them, also to apprehend and punish criminals. Lictors and rods, the ensigns of their power. Milton.…

legal claim; a charge upon real or personal property for the satisfaction of some debt or duty; a right in one to control or hold and retain the property of another until some claim of the former is paid or satisfied.

in his absence; a representative of, or substitute for, another in the performance of any duty. The lawful magistrate, who is the vicegerent or lieutenant of God. Abp. Bramhall.

A friar licensed to beg within certain bounds, or whose duty was limited to a certain district. [Formerly written also limitour.] Chaucer. A limitour of the Gray Friars, in the time of his limitation, preached many times, and had one sermon at all times. Latimer.