Search the Dictionary

An appointment of time and place for meeting or interview; -- used chiefly of love interviews, and now commonly in a bad sense. While nymphs take treats, or assignations give. Pope.

To soil; to stain. [Obs. or Poet.] Beau. & Fl. Ne'er assoil my cobwebbed shield. Wordsworth.

Indemnification for injury; satisfaction. [Chiefly in Scots law]

A hetman, or chief of the Cossacks.

The goddess of mischievous folly; also, in later poets, the goddess of vengeance.

Not furnished with shields or beds for the spores, as the thallus of certain lichens.

bling, Atlas; strong. With Atlantean shoulders, fit to bear The weight of mightiest monarchies. Milton.

To achieve or accomplish, that is, to reach by efforts; to gain; to compass; as, to attain rest. Is he wise who hopes to attain the end without the means Abp. Tillotson.

The chief law officer of the state, empowered to act in all litigation in which the law-executing power is a party, and to advise this supreme executive whenever required. Wharton.

ines of Newton, and the epistemological theories of Locke, in the preceding century. Its chief center was in France, where it gave rise to the skepticism of Voltaire , the naturalism of Rousseau, the sensationalism of Condillac, and the publication of the "Encyclopedia" by D'Alembert and Diderot. In Germany, Lessing, M…

Prosperous; fortunate; as, auspicious years. "Auspicious chief." Dryden.

riters a book; a composer, as distinguished from an editor, translator, or compiler. The chief glory every people arises from its authors. Johnson.

ng power or command; as, the local authorities of the States; the military authorities. [Chiefly in the plural.]

sanction or warrant. The authorization of laws. Motley. A special authorization from the chief. Merivale.

A self-moving machine, or one which has its motive power within itself; -- applied chiefly to machines which appear to imitate spontaneously the motions of living beings, such as men, birds, etc.

The descent of a deity to earth, and his incarnation as a man or an animal; -- chiefly associated with the incarnations of Vishnu.

A chief magistrate of a free imperial city or canton of Switzerland. [Obs.]

o wait for; to stay for; to expect. See Expect. Betwixt these rocky pillars Gabriel sat, Chief of the angelic guards, awaiting night. Milton.

A musical wind instrument, now used chiefly in the Highlands of Scotland.

Originally, a person put in charge of something especially, a chief officer, magistrate, or keeper, as of a county, town, hundred, or castle; one to whom power Abbott. Lausanne is under the canton of Berne, governed by a bailiff sent every three years from the senate. Addison.