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ate of being pleased with, or attracted toward, some thing or person; hence, inclination; desire; pleasure; preference; -- often with for, formerly with to; as, it is an amusement I have no liking for. If the human intellect hath once taken a liking to any doctrine, . . . it draws everything else into harmony with that…

To protract; to draw out. [Obs.] She lingers my desires. Shak.

To desire or choose; to please. The wind bloweth where it listeth. John iii. 8. Them that add to the Word of God what them listeth. Hooker. Let other men think of your devices as they list. Whitgift.

Having no desire or inclination; indifferent; heedless; spiritless. " A listless unconcern." Thomson. Benumbed with cold, and listless of their gain. Dryden. I was listless, and desponding. Swift.

To feel a strong or morbid desire or craving; to wish for something with eagerness; -- followed by an infinitive, or by after or for. I long to see you. Rom. i. 11. I have longed after thy precepts. Ps. cxix. 40. I have longed for thy salvation. Ps. cxix. 174. Nicomedes, longing for herrings, was supplied with fresh on…

An eager desire; a craving; a morbid appetite; an earnest wish; an aspiration. Put on my crown; I have immortal longings in me. Shak.

With longing desire. [Obs.] Shak.

by the ancients to make strangers who ate of it forget their native country, or lose all desire to return to it.

Affection; kind feeling; friendship; strong liking or desire; fondness; good will; -- opposed to hate; often with of and an object. Love, and health to all. Shak. Smit with the love of sacred song. Milton. The love of science faintly warmed his breast. Fenton.

Languishing with love or amorous desire; as, a love-sick maid. To the dear mistress of my love-sick mind. Dryden.

A friend; one strongly attached to another; one who greatly desires the welfare of any person or thing; as, a lover of his country. I slew my best lover for the good of Rome. Shak.

Inclination; desire. [Obs.] For little lust had she to talk of aught. Spenser. My lust to devotion is little. Bp. Hall.

r or from another machine, and transmit, modify, and apply them to the production of some desired mechanical effect or work, as weaving by a loom, or the excitation of electricity by an electrical machine.

The means and appliances by which anything is kept in action or a desired result is obtained; a complex system of parts adapted to a purpose. An indispensable part of the machinery of state. Macaulay. The delicate inflexional machinery of the Aryan languages. I. Taylor (The Alphabet).

ted beyond self-control or the restraint of reason; inflamed by violent or uncontrollable desire, passion, or appetite; as, to be mad with terror, lust, or hatred; mad against political reform. It is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols. Jer. 1. 88. And being exceedingly mad against them, I pers…

To put a desired or desirable condition; to cause to thrive. Who makes or ruins with a smile or frown. Dryden.

Excessive or unreasonable desire; insane passion affecting one or many people; as, the tulip mania. Mania a potu Etym: [L.], madness from drinking; delirium tremens.

Modesty, courtesy, or concession, or a desire to soften a question or remark. How old may Phillis be, you ask. Prior.

hrough which, or by the help of which, an end is attained; something tending to an object desired; intermediate agency or measure; necessary condition or coagent; instrument. Their virtuous conversation was a mean to work the conversion of the heathen to Christ. Hooker. You may be able, by this mean, to review your own…

To adjust by a rule or standard. To secure a contented spirit, measure your desires by your fortunes, not your fortunes by your desires. Jer. Taylor.