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Lascivious passion; concupiscence. [Obs.] It is not certain that they took the better part when they chose ustulation before marriage, expressly against the apostle. Jer. Taylor.

t. V and U are only varieties of the same character, U being the cursive form, while V is better adapted for engraving, as in stone. The two letters were formerly used indiscriminately, and till a comparatively recent date words containing them were often classed together in dictionaries and other books of reference (s…

Strong; powerful; efficient. [Obs.] "Perhaps more valid arms . . . may serve to better us." Milton.

Hence, to defeat in any contest; to get the better of; to put down; to refute. This bold assertion has been fully vanquished in a late reply to the Bishop of Meaux's treatise. Atterbury. For e'en though vanquished, he could argue still. Goldsmith.

as a house, a church, a mine, etc.; free exposure to air. Insuring, for the laboring man, better ventilation. F. W. Robertson.

e no verbal question Shak. We subjoin an engraving . . . which will give the reader a far better notion of the structure than any verbal description could convey to the mind. Mayhew.

The winner in a contest; one who gets the better of another in any struggle; esp., one who defeats an enemy in battle; a vanquisher; a conqueror; -- often followed by art, rarely by of. In love, the victors from the vanquished fly; They fly that wound, and they pursue that die. Waller.

h. I made virtue of necessity. Chaucer. In the Greek poets, . . . the economy of poems is better observed than in Terence, who thought the sole grace and virtue of their fable the sticking in of sentences. B. Jonson.

To make a vow, or solemn promise. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. Eccl. v. 5.

with boards or panelwork, or as if with panelwork; as, to wainscot a hall. Music soundeth better in chambers wainscoted than hanged. Bacon. The other is wainscoted with looking-glass. Addison.

; hence, wary; cautious; on one's guard. See Beware. [Obs.] She was ware and knew it bet [better] than he. Chaucer. Of whom be thou ware also. 2. Tim. iv. 15. He is ware enough; he is wily and circumspect for stirring up any sedition. Latimer. The only good that grows of passed fear Is to be wise, and ware of like agai…

One often quarreled with; -- darling. [Obs.] Better be an old man's darling than a young man's warling. Camde

erately and maturely; to balance. A young man not weighed in state affairs. Bacon. Had no better weighed The strength he was to cope with, or his own. Milton. Regard not who it is which speaketh, but weigh only what is spoken. Hooker. In nice balance, truth with gold she weighs. Pope. Without sufficiently weighing his…

A ponderous mass; something heavy; as, a clock weight; a paper weight. A man leapeth better with weights in his hands. Bacon.

ys of her household. Prov. xxxi. 27. Servant of God, well done! well hast thou fought The better fight. Milton.

ng; to give birth to. Unless she had whelped it herself, she could not have loved a thing better. B. Jonson. Did thy foul fancy whelp so black a scheme Young.

r's whittle." Dryden. "Rude whittles." Macaulay. He wore a Sheffield whittle in his hose. Betterton.

A sportsman; a hunter. [The duke] is a better woodman than thou takest him for. Shak.

a physical and moral sense. Or worse, if men worse can devise. Chaucer. [She] was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse. Mark v. 26. Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse. 2 Tim. iii. 13. There are men who seem to believe they are not bad while another can be found worse. Rambler. "But I love him." "Love hi…

To get the better of; to worst. [R.]