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Formerly existing; ancient; not modern; preceding; original; as, an old law; an old custom; an old promise. "The old schools of Greece." Milton. "The character of the old Ligurians." Addison.

only writen as two words, one's self. One's self (or more properly oneself), is quite a modern form. In Elizabethan English we find a man's self=one's self. Morris.

In modern diplomacy, opportunity for political and commercial intercourse open to all upon equal terms, esp. with reference to a nation whose policy is wholly or partially fixed by nations foreign to itself, or to territory newly acquired by a conquering nation. In this sense, often used adjectively, as, open-door syst…

horus and its evolutions, afterward by the Romans to persons of distinction, and by the moderns to a band of instrumental musicians.

according to usage; to correct in regard to spelling. In the coalesced into ith, which modern reaction has orthographized to i' th'. Earle.

Especially, in modern use, the glass in one compartment of a window sash.

ental figures, formerly used for the internal and external decoration of houses. (b) In modern architecture, the plastering of the inside of flues, intended to give a smooth surface and help the draught.

nd for familiar guests, -- a room for less formal uses than the drawing- room. Esp., in modern times, the dining room of a house having few apartments, as a London house, where the dining parlor is usually on the ground floor.

m possession won with arms. Milton. It was strange to him that a father should feel no tenderness at parting with an only son. A. Trollope.

nspiring fountain of the Muses, to spring from Mount Helicon. On this account he is, in modern times, associated with the Muses, and with ideas of poetic inspiration. Each spurs his jaded Pegasus apace. Byron.

That which is perceived. Sir W. Hamilton. The modern discussion between percept and concept, the one sensuous, the other intellectual. Max Müller.

payable on Lammas or St.Peter's day; -- called also Rome scot, and hearth money. (b) In modern times, a voluntary contribution made by Roman Catholics to the private purse of the pope. -- Peter's fish (Zoöl.), a haddock; -- so called because the black spots, one on each side, behind the gills, are traditionally said t…

ertaining to Ptolemy Philadelphus, or to one of the cities named Philadelphia, esp. the modern city in Pennsylvania.

art as worn by Orientals, assumed to have been conical in shape. It has been adopted in modern art as the so-called liberty cap, or cap of liberty.

One who goes before, as into the wilderness, preparing the way for others to follow; as, pioneers of civilization; pioneers of reform.

A small plaque, esp., in modern medal engraving, a small and delicate bas-relief, whether cast or struck from a die, or of form other than circular.

The modern dialects spoken in the north of Germany, taken collectively; modern Low German. See Low German, under German.

act in a cause, as distinguished from a demurrer; in a still more limited sense, and in modern practice, the defendant's answer to the plaintiff's declaration and demand. That which the plaintiff alleges in his declaration is answered and repelled or justified by the defendant's plea. In chancery practice, a plea is a…

cases have excepted from its domain the development and administration of private law. Modern political science defines the power as a branch of internal administration in the exercise of which the executive should move within the lines of general principles prescribed by the constitution or the legislature, and in th…

t city of Italy, buried by an eruption of Vesuvius in 79 a. d., and partly uncovered by modern excavations.