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Sorrowful; distressful. [Obs.] " Dreary shrieks." Spenser.

graving is made. -- Dry rent (Eng. Law), a rent reserved by deed, without a clause of distress. Bouvier. -- Dry rot, a decay of timber, reducing its fibers to the condition of a dry powdery dust, often accompanied by the presence of a peculiar fungus (Merulius lacrymans), which is sometimes considered the cause of th…

A mistress; a sweetheart. I must ever have some Dulcinea in my head. Sterne.

Subservient; obsequious. Duteous to the vices of thy mistress. Shak. -- Du"te*ous*ly, adv. -- Du"te*ous*ness, n.

The state or condition of being easy; freedom from distress; rest.

At ease; free from pain, trouble, or constraint; as: (a) Free from pain, distress, toil, exertion, and the like; quiet; as, the patient is easy. (b) Free from care, responsibility, discontent, and the like; not anxious; tranquil; as, an easy mind. (c) Free from constraint, harshness, or formality; unconstrained; smooth…

truths. These matters economical and political. J. C. Shairp. There was no economical distress in England to prompt the enterprises of colonization. Palfrey. Economic questions, such as money, usury, taxes, lands, and the employment of the people. H. C. Baird.

ng, etc., that a body can undergo and yet return to its original form when relieved from stress; also, the unit force or stress required to produce this distortion. Within the elastic limit the distortion is directly proportional to the stress producing it. -- Elastic tissue (Anat.), a variety of connective tissue con…

, or recovery from, depression or overwork. Coefficient of elasticity, the quotient of a stress (of a given kind), by the strain (of a given kind) which it produces; -- called also coefficient of resistance. -- Surface of elasticity (Geom.), the pedal surface of an ellipsoid (see Pedal); a surface used in explaining t…

An electress. Bp. Burnet.

To convey to a distance, or beyond the jurisdiction, or to conceal, as goods liable to distress. The sheriff may return that the goods or beasts are eloigned. Blackstone.

A particular stress of utterance, or force of voice, given in reading and speaking to one or more words whose signification the speaker intends to impress specially upon his audience. The province of emphasis is so much more important than accent, that the customary seat of the latter is changed, when the claims of emp…

To utter or pronounce with a particular stress of voice; to make emphatic; as, to emphasize a word or a phrase.

Uttered with emphasis; made prominent and impressive by a peculiar stress of voice; laying stress; deserving of stress or emphasis; forcible; impressive; strong; as, to remonstrate in am emphatic manner; an emphatic word; an emphatic tone; emphatic reasoning.

A sovereign mistress. "Empress of my soul." Shak. Empress cloth, a cloth for ladies' dresses, either wholly of wool, or with cotton warp and wool weft. It resembles merino, but is not twilled.

The line of works which forms the main inclosure of a fortress or place; -- called also body of the place.

The act of bearing or suffering; a continuing under pain or distress without resistance, or without being overcome; sufferance; patience. Their fortitude was most admirable in their patience and endurance of all evils, of pain and of death. Sir W. Temple.

To urge; to ply hard; to lay much stress upon. Enforce him with his envy to the people. Shak.

A setting at large, or being set at large; release from confinement, servitude, or distress; liberty. Give enlargement to the swain. Shak.

to insnare; hence, to catch, as in a trap, by artifices; to involve in difficulties or distresses; to catch or involve in contradictions; as, to be entrapped by the devices of evil men. A golden mesh, to entrap the hearts of men. Shak.