Search the Dictionary

To possess or exercise sovereign power or authority; to exercise government, as a king or emperor;; to hold supreme power; to rule. Chaucer. We will not have this man to reign over us. Luke xix. 14. Shall Banquo's issue ever Reign in this kingdom Shak.

To cast from one; to throw away; to discard. Therefore all this exercise of hunting . . . the Utopians have rejected to their butchers. Robynson (More's Utopia). Reject me not from among thy children. Wisdom ix. 4.

To act with force in opposition to force impressed; to exercise repulsion.

To stand in the place of; to supply the place, perform the duties, exercise the rights, or receive the share, of; to speak and act with authority in behalf of; to act the part of (another); as, an heir represents his ancestor; an attorney represents his client in court; a member of Congress represents his district in C…

A state in which the sovereign power resides in the whole body of the people, and is exercised by representatives elected by them; a commonwealth. Cf. Democracy, 2.

xtol with sounds; to spread the fame of. The man for wisdom's various arts renowned, Long exercised in woes, O muse, resound. Pope.

A special season of solitude and silence to engage in religious exercises.

suffix signifying dominion, jurisdiction; as, bishopric, the district over which a bishop exercises authority.

To control the will and actions of; to exercise authority or dominion over; to govern; to manage. Chaucer. A bishop then must be blameless; . . . one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection. 1 Tim. iii. 2, 4.

One who rules; one who exercises sway or authority; a governor. And he made him ruler over all the land. Gen. xii. 43. A prince and ruler of the land. Shak.

Relating to leaping; saltatory; as, saltatorial exercises.

Wholesome; healthful; promoting health; as, salutary exercise.

The student who pronounces the salutatory oration at the annual Commencement or like exercises of a college, -- an honor commonly assigned to that member of the graduating class who ranks second in scholarship. [U.S.]

; speaking a welcome; greeting; -- applied especially to the oration which introduces the exercises of the Commencements, or similar public exhibitions, in American colleges.

A seat; a site; a place where sovereign power is exercised. [Obs.] Chaucer. Jove laughed on Venus from his sovereign see. Spenser.

oman, lacking wit To make a seemly answer to such persons. Shak. Suspense of judgment and exercise of charity were safer and seemlier for Christian men than the hot pursuit of these controversies. Hooker.

Control of one's self; restraint exercised over one's self; self-command.

To exercise authority; to rule; to lord it. [R.] Fairfax.

To exercise dominion over; to lord it over. [Obs.] Shelton.

To restrain from the exercise of any function, privilege of instruction, or the like, especially from the act of preaching; as, to silence a minister of the gospel. The Rev. Thomas Hooker of Chelmsford, in Essex, was silenced for nonconformity. B. Trumbull.