Search the Dictionary

To maintain, as an establishment, institution, or the like; to conduct; to manage; as, to keep store. Like a pedant that keeps a school. Shak. Every one of them kept house by himself. Hayward.

A small due, in meal, established by usage, which is paid to the under miller. [Scot.]

In general, a rule of being or of conduct, established by an authority able to enforce its will; a controlling regulation; the mode or order according to which an agent or a power acts.

To place in position; to establish firmly; to arrange with regularity; to dispose in ranks or tiers; as, to lay a corner stone; to lay bricks in a wall; to lay the covers on a table.

Accordant with law or with established legal forms and requirements; lawful; as, legitimate government; legitimate rights; the legitimate succession to the throne; a legitimate proceeding of an officer; a legitimate heir.

rences of level between different points of the earth's surface included in a survey, for establishing grades, etc., as in finding the descent of a river, or locating a line of railroad. Leveling instrument. See Surveyor's level, under Level, n. -- Leveling staff, a graduated rod or staff used in connection with a lev…

Not bound by orthodox tenets or established forms in political or religious philosophy; independent in opinion; not conservative; friendly to great freedom in the constitution or administration of government; having tendency toward democratic or republican, as distinguished from monarchical or aristocratic, forms; as,…

Lawful. "Licit establishments." Carlyle. -- Lic"it*ly, adv. -- Lic"it*ness, n.

A connected series of public conveyances, and hence, an established arrangement for forwarding merchandise, etc. ; as, a line of stages; an express line.

An established formula for public worship, or the entire ritual for public worship in a church which uses prescribed forms; a formulary for public prayer or devotion. In the Roman Catholic Church it includes all forms and services in any language, in any part of the world, for the celebration of Mass.…

driving; the state of being so kept. Pegasus does not stand at livery even at the largest establishment in Moorfields. Lowell.

out; to discover; to decipher; as, to make out the meaning of a letter. (b) To prove; to establish; as, the plaintiff was unable to make out his case. (c) To make complete or exact; as, he was not able to make out the money. -- To make over, to transfer the title of; to convey; to alienate; as, he made over his estat…

That which establishes or places in a desirable state or condition; the material of which something may be made; as, early misfortune was the making of him.

Evil practice; illegal or immoral conduct; practice contrary to established rules; specifically, the treatment of a case by a surgeon or physician in a manner which is contrary to accepted rules and productive of unfavorable results. [Written also malepractice.]

An established principle or proposition; a condensed proposition of important practical truth; an axiom of practical wisdom; an adage; a proverb; an aphorism. 'T is their maxim, Love is love's reward. Dryden.

A Turkish honorary order established in 1851 by Abdul-Mejid, having as its badge a medallion surrounded by seven silver rays and crescents. It is often conferred on foreigners.

to Megara, a city of ancient Greece. Megarian, or Megaric, school, a school of philosophy established at Megara, after the death of Socrates, by his disciples, and remarkable for its logical subtlety.

us order founded in Dublin in the year 1827. Communities of the same name have since been established in various American cities. The duties of those belonging to the order are, to attend lying-in hospitals, to superintend the education of girls, and protect decent women out of employment, to visit prisoners and the si…

Specifically: An event or effect contrary to the established constitution and course of things, or a deviation from the known laws of nature; a supernatural event, or one transcending the ordinary laws by which the universe is governed. They considered not the miracle of the loaves. Mark vi. 52.

A change of key, whether transient, or until the music becomes established in the new key; a shifting of the tonality of a piece, so that the harmonies all center upon a new keynote or tonic; the art of transition out of the original key into one nearly related, and so on, it may be, by successive changes, into a key q…