Search the Dictionary

A note or brief strain on a bugle. Sir W. Scott.

To express or to feel grief or sorrow; to grieve; to be sorrowful; to lament; to be in a state of grief or sadness. Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her. Gen. xxiii. 2.

The act of sorrowing or expressing grief; lamentation; sorrow.

number or quantity a certain number of times; commonly, the process of ascertaining by a briefer computation the result of such repeated additions; also, the rule by which the operation is performed; -- the reverse of division.

em of characters, symbols, or abbreviated expressions used in art or science, to express briefly technical facts, quantities, etc. Esp., the system of figures, letters, and signs used in arithmetic and algebra to express number, quantity, or operations.

A brief remark; a marginal comment or explanation; hence, an annotation on a text or author; a comment; a critical, explanatory, or illustrative observation. The best writers have been perplexed with notes, and obscured with illustrations. Felton.

A new star, usually appearing suddenly, shining for a brief period, and then sinking into obscurity. Such appearances are supposed to result from cosmic collisions, as of a dark star with interstellar nebulosities. The most important modern novæ are: -- No"va Co*ro"næ Bo`re*a"lis [1866]; No"va Cyg"ni [1876]; No"va An*d…

nus Nucula. To be, or lie, in a nutshell, to be within a small compass; to admit of very brief or simple determination or statement. "The remedy lay in a nutshell." Macaulay.

or personified object; also, as an emotional or impassioned exclamation expressing pain, grief, surprise, desire, fear, etc. For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. Ps. cxix. 89. O how love I thy law ! it is my meditation all the day. Ps. cxix. 97.

Heavy; overpowering; hard to be borne; as, oppressive grief or woe. To ease the soul of one oppressive weight. Pope. -- Op*press"ive*ly, adv. -- Op*press"ive*ness, n.

Origin; commencement; source. It hath it original from much grief. Shak. And spangled heavens, a shining frame, Their great Original proclaim. Addison.

of a plan, system, course of thought, etc.; as, the outline of a speech. But that larger grief . . . Is given in outline and no more. Tennyson.

weary excessively; to exhaust. Then dozed a while herself, but overtoiled By that day's grief and travel. Tennyson.

Uneasiness of mind; mental distress; disquietude; anxiety; grief; solicitude; anguish. Chaucer. In rapture as in pain. Keble.

A brief composition complete in one typographical section or paragraph; an item, remark, or quotation comprised in a few lines forming one paragraph; as, a column of news paragraphs; an editorial paragraph.

ject of taste -- a kind of enthusiastic fondness for anything. Cogan. The bravery of his grief did put me Into a towering passion. Shak. The ruling passion, be it what it will, The ruling passion conquers reason still. Pope. Who walked in every path of human life, Felt every passion. Akenside. When statesmen are ruled…

Affecting or moving the tender emotions, esp. pity or grief; full of pathos; as, a pathetic song or story. "Pathetic action." Macaulay. No theory of the passions can teach a man to be pathetic. E. Porter. Pathetic muscle (Anat.), the superior oblique muscle of the eye. -- Pathetic nerve (Anat.), the fourth cranial, or…

A female patron or helper. Spenser. Night, best patroness of grief. Milton.

Uttering few words; brief in speech. [R.]

In speaking or reading aloud, a brief arrest or suspension of voice, to indicate the limits and relations of sentences and their parts.