Search the Dictionary

A sprite, or spirit, imagined as inhabiting the water. J. R. Drake.

A hydrous sulphate of alumina occurring in white reniform masses.

The common grayish or white variety of soapolite.

Barium carbonate occurring in white or gray six-sided twin crystals, and also in columnar or granular masses.

the conveyance of meaning; to inscribe on any material by a suitable instrument; as, to write the characters called letters; to write figures.

One who writes, or has written; a scribe; a clerk. They [came] that handle the pen of the writer. Judg. v. 14. My tongue is the pen of a ready writer. Ps. xlv. 1.

The office of a writer.

The rite or ceremonial observed by one of the Masonic systems, deriving its name from the city of York, in England; also, the system itself, which, in England, confers only the first three degrees.

A mineral of a violet-blue color, inclining to gray and white. It is a hydrous fluoride of cerium, yttrium, and calcium.

e's self) unrestrainedly ; -- often in a bad sense. He abandoned himself . . . to his favorite vice. Macaulay.

The relinquishment by the insured to the underwriters of what may remain of the property insured after a loss or damage by a peril insured against.

Purification by washing the hands before prayer; -- a Mohammedan rite. Heyse.

g or cleansing; specifically, the washing of the body, or some part of it, as a religious rite.

use; to put to a bad use; to use for a wrong purpose or end; to pervert; as, to abuse inherited gold; to make an excessive use of; as, to abuse one's authority. This principle (if one may so abuse the word) shoots rapidly into popularity. Froude.

The application of a writer's language, on the ground of analogy, to something not originally referred to or intended. Many of those quotations from the Old Testament were probably intended as nothing more than accommodations. Paley.

A fabulous people reported by ancient writers to have heads.

Movement; as, the horse has a spirited action.

To write in the margin. [R.] Coleridge.

Servile flattery; praise in excess, or beyond what is merited. Think'st thou the fiery fever will go out With titles blown from adulation Shak.

se of a verb, participle, adjective, or other adverb, and usually placed near it; as, he writes well; paper extremely white.