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Evincing state or dignity; lofty; majestic; grand; as, statelymanners; a stately gait. "The stately homes of England!" Mrs. Hemans. "Filled with stately temples." Prescott. Here is a stately style indeed! Shak.

To descend from rank or dignity; to condescend. "She stoops to conquer." Goldsmith. Where men of great wealth stoop to husbandry, it multiplieth riches exceedingly. Bacon.

To walk with a lofty, proud gait, and erect head; to walk with affected dignity. Does he not hold up his head, . . . and strut in his gait Shak.

Inferior in order, nature, dignity, power, importance, or the like. It was subordinate, not enslaved, to the understanding. South.

The quality or state of being subordinate or inferior to an other; inferiority of rank or dignity; subjection. Natural creature having a local subordination. Holyday.

The office or dignity of a sultan.

Higher in rank or office; more exalted in dignity; as, a superior officer; a superior degree of nobility.

lmness of mind; moderation; equanimity; composure; as, to keep one's temper. To fall with dignity, with temper rise. Pope. Restore yourselves to your tempers, fathers. B. Jonson.

The character or dignity of a thane; also, thanes, collectively. J. R. Green.

The state or dignity of a thane; thanehood; also, the seignioralty of a thane.

Hence, sovereign power and dignity; also, the one who occupies a throne, or is invested with sovereign authority; an exalted or dignified personage. Only in the throne will I be greater than thou. Gen. xli. 40. To mold a mighty state's decrees, And shape the whisper of the throne. Tennyson.

assed with a crown, subsequently with a second, and finally with a third. Fig.: The papal dignity.

An appellation of dignity, distinction, or preëminence (hereditary or acquired), given to persons, as duke marquis, honorable, esquire, etc. With his former title greet Macbeth. Shak.

Existing in title or name only; nominal; having the title to an office or dignity without discharging its appropriate duties; as, a titular prince. If these magnificent titles yet remain Not merely titular. Milton. Titular bishop. See under Bishop.

The office or dignity of a translator.

to invert. [R.] Things base and vile, holding no quantity, Love can transpose to form and dignity. Shak.

To act or talk without seriousness, gravity, weight, or dignity; to act or talk with levity; to indulge in light or trivial amusements. They trifle, and they beat the air about nothing which toucheth us. Hooker. To trifle with, to play the fool with; to treat without respect or seriousness; to mock; as, to trifle with…

To deprive, as a city, of a bishop; to deprive, as a clergyman, of episcopal dignity or rights. [R.] "Then he unbishops himself." Milton.

Not graceful; not marked with ease and dignity; deficient in beauty and elegance; inelegant; awkward; as, ungraceful manners; ungraceful speech. The other oak remaining a blackened and ungraceful trunk. Sir W. Scott. -- Un*grace"ful*ly, adv. -- Un*grace"ful*ness, n.

To deprive of state or dignity. [R.] High-battled Cæsar will unstate his happiness. Shak.