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To look or gaze steadily in reading or studying; to fix the attention; to be absorbed; -- often with on or upon, and now usually with over."Painfully to pore upon a book." Shak. The eye grows weary with poring perpetually on the same thing. Dryden.

sum. [Colloq. U. S.] To play possum, To act possum, to feign ignorance, indifference or inattention, with the intent to deceive; to dissemble; -- in allusion to the habit of the opossum, which feigns death when attacked or alarmed.

To prepossess; to engage, occupy, or engross the attention of, beforehand; hence, to prejudice. I Think it more respectful to the reader to leave something to reflections than to preoccupy his judgment. Arbuthnot.

To consider by a separate act of attention or analysis. Sir W. Hamilton.

Favorably attentive; propitious. [Archaic] To find a god so present to my prayer. Dryden. Present tense (Gram.), the tense or form of a verb which expresses action or being in the present time; as, I am writing, I write, or I do write.

nd usually followed by up; -- hence, to prick up the ears, to listen sharply; to have the attention and interest strongly engaged. "The courser . . . pricks up his ears." Dryden.

Hence; Distinctly manifest; likely to attract attention from its size or position; conspicuous; as, a prominent feature of the face; a prominent building.

Attentive deliberation. [R.] Sir M. Hale.

To praise with exaggeration; to flatter; to call public attention to by praises; to praise unduly. " Puffed with wonderful skill." Macaulay.

Attentive to punctilio; very nice or exact in the forms of behavior, etiquette, or mutual intercourse; precise; exact in the smallest particulars. "A punctilious observance of divine laws." Rogers. "Very punctilious copies of any letters. The Nation. Punctilious in the simple and intelligible instances of common life.…

To set before one for judgment, acceptance, or rejection; to bring to the attention; to offer; to state; to express; figuratively, to assume; to suppose; -- formerly sometimes followed by that introducing a proposition; as, to put a question; to put a case. Let us now put that ye have leave. Chaucer. Put the perception…

Not showy; not such as to attract attention; undemonstrative; as, a quiet dress; quiet colors; a quiet movement.

Inattentive to duty; careless; neglectful; indifferent. Chaucer.

To carry the mind or throught; to direct attention; as, the preacher referrd to the late election.

That which refers to something; a specific direction of the attention; as, a reference in a text-book.

what passes within the mind; to attend to the facts or phenomena of consciousness; to use attention or earnest thought; to meditate; especially, to think in relation to moral truth or rules. We can not be said to reflect upon any external object, except so far as that object has been previously perceived, and its image…

Result of meditation; thought or opinion after attentive consideration or contemplation; especially, thoughts suggested by truth. Job's reflections on his once flourishing estate did at the same time afflict and encourage him. Atterbury.

To look closely at; to observe attentively; to pay attention to; to notice or remark particularly. If much you note him, You offened him; . . . feed, and regard him not. Shak.

Heedful; attentive; observant. -- Re*gard"ful*ly, adv. Let a man be very tender and regardful of every pious motion made by the Spirit of God to his heart. South.

respect to strenuousness, esrnestness, or effort; as, to relax discipline; to relax one's attention or endeavors. The stature of mortmain was at several times relaxed by the legilature. Swift.