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ons of States; existing between, or including, different States; as, interstate commerce. Story.

fice and is turned out. Shak. -- Jack the Giant Killer, the hero of a well-known nursery story. -- Jack-with-a-lantern, Jack-o'-lantern. (a) An ignis fatuus; a will-o'-the-wisp. "[Newspaper speculations] supplying so many more jack-o'-lanterns to the future historian." Lowell. (b) A lantern made of a pumpkin so prepa…

A chief; an earl; in English history, one of the leaders in the Danish and Norse invasions. Longfellow.

A tale of sorrow, disappointment, or complaint; a doleful story; a dolorous tirade; -- generally used satirically. He has prolonged his complaint into an endless jeremiad. Lamb.

sons of a backwoodsman of Dutch descent. They lived in the State of New York, and their history was investigated by R. L. Dugdale as an example of the inheritance of criminal and immoral tendencies, disease, and pauperism. Sixty per cent of those traced showed, degeneracy, and they are estimated to have cost society $1…

Two cats fabled, in an Irish story, to have fought till nothing was left but their tails. It is probably a parable of a local contest between Kilkenny and Irishtown, which impoverished both towns.

The point on which the action of a story depends; the gist of a matter. [Obs.] I shoulde to the knotte condescend, And maken of her walking soon an end. Chaucer.

Intellectual exertion; mental effort; as, the labor of compiling a history.

so, a table of areas used in such measurement. -- Land, or House, of bondage, in Bible history, Egypt; by extension, a place or condition of special oppression. -- Land o' cakes, Scotland. -- Land of Nod, sleep. -- Land of promise, in Bible history, Canaan: by extension, a better country or condition of which one h…

land that serves as a guide; some prominent object, as a hill or steeple. Landmarks of history, important events by which eras or conditions are determined.

Fitted to excite laughter; as, a laughable story; a laughable scene.

A story respecting saints; especially, one of a marvelous nature. Addison.

A description of lichens; the science which illustrates the natural history of lichens.

A history of the acts and events of a life; a biography; as, Johnson wrote the life of Milton.

; as, a lifeless carcass; lifeless matter; a lifeless desert; a lifeless wine; a lifeless story. -- Life"less*ly, adv. -- Life"less*ness, n.

Worthy of belief; probable; credible; as, a likely story. It seems likely that he was in hope of being busy and conspicuous. Johnson.

ers or literature; pertaining to learning or learned men; as, literary fame; a literary history; literary conversation. He has long outlived his century, the term commonly fixed as the test of literary merit. Johnson.

lass of writings distinguished for beauty of style or expression, as poetry, essays, or history, in distinction from scientific treatises and works which contain positive knowledge; belles-lettres.

The science of worship; history, doctrine, and interpretation of liturgies.

iterature) Peculiarities of the place and its inhabitants where the scene of an action or story is laid. -- Local option, the right or obligation of determining by popular vote within certain districts, as in each county, city, or town, whether the sale of alcoholic beverages within the district shall be allowed.…