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by diagrams, And crosses not the spontaneities Of all his individual, personal life With formal universals. Mrs. Browning.

To place in an office with the customary formalities; to install. Shak.

Fig.: A stiff, formal manner; formality. Addison. Starch hyacinth (Bot.), the grape hyacinth; -- so called because the flowers have the smell of boiled starch. See under Grape.

Stiff; precise; formal. Swift.

The quality or state of being starched; stiffness in manners; formality.

That which is stated; a formal embodiment in language of facts or opinions; a narrative; a recital. "Admirable perspicuity of statement!" Brougham.

Not natural and easy; formal; constrained; affected; starched; as, stiff behavior; a stiff style. The French are open, familiar, and talkative; the Italians stiff, ceremonious, and reserved. Addison.

Mode or phrase by which anything is formally designated; the title; the official designation of any important body; mode of address; as, the style of Majesty. One style to a gracious benefactor, another to a proud, insulting foe. Burke.

acceptance of articles, or other tests tending to promote uniformity; esp. (Ch. of Eng.), formal assent to the Thirty-nine Articles and the Book of Common Prayer, required before ordination.

n deciding a controverted question, or in the choice of a man for an office or trust; the formal expression of an opinion; assent; vote. I ask your voices and your suffrages. Shak.

Regular method or order; formal arrangement; plan; as, to have a system in one's business.

In parliamentary usage, to lay on the table; to postpone, by a formal vote, the consideration of (a bill, motion, or the like) till called for, or indefinitely.

carved work placed under each end of the taffrail. J. Knowels. In term, in set terms; in formal phrase. [Obs.] I can not speak in term. Chaucer. -- Term fee (Law) (a), a fee by the term, chargeable to a suitor, or by law fixed and taxable in the costs of a cause for each or any term it is in court. -- Terms of a prop…

To deny formally, as what the opposite party has alleged. When the plaintiff or defendant advances new matter, he avers it to be true, and traverses what the other party has affirmed. To traverse an indictment or an office is to deny it. And save the expense of long litigious laws, Where suits are traversed, and so lit…

pecifically, an agreement, league, or contract between two or more nations or sovereigns, formally signed by commissioners properly authorized, and solemnly ratified by the several sovereigns, or the supreme power of each state; an agreement between two or more independent states; as, a treaty of peace; a treaty of all…

The formal examination of the matter in issue in a cause before a competent tribunal; the mode of determining a question of fact in a court of law; the examination, in legal form, of the facts in issue in a cause pending before a competent tribunal, for the purpose of determining such issue.

To; -- now used only in antiquated, formal, or scriptural style. See To.

Having legal strength or force; executed with the proper formalities; incapable of being rightfully overthrown or set aside; as, a valid deed; a valid covenant; a valid instrument of any kind; a valid claim or title; a valid marriage.

A formal phrase used in concluding a plea. Verification of an equation (Math.), the operation of testing the equation of a problem, to see whether it expresses truly the conditions of the problem. Davies & Peck. (Math. Dict.)

The act of going to view or inspect; an official or formal inspection; examination; visitation; as, the visit of a trustee or inspector. Right of visit (Internat. Law), the right of visitation. See Visitation, 4.