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To strive or contend about; to contest. To dispute the possession of the ground with the Spaniards. Prescott.

up the roots of, or by the roots; hence, to tear from a foundation; to uproot. A piece of ground disrooted from its situation by subterraneous inundations. Goldsmith.

Disadvantageous. [Obs.] "Disadvantageous ground." Drayton.

hazel, with forked branches, used by those who pretend to discover water or metals under ground.

to translate or transform into, as a text. Done to death by slanderous tongues. Shak. The ground of the difficulty is done away. Paley. Suspicions regarding his loyalty were entirely done away. Thackeray. To do on our own harness, that we may not; but we must do on the armor of God. Latimer. Then Jason rose and did on…

To return upon one's track; to turn and go back over the same ground, or in an opposite direction. Doubling and turning like a hunted hare. Dryden. Doubling and doubling with laborious walk. Wordsworth.

A small house or box, raised to a considerable height above the ground, and having compartments, in which domestic pigeons breed; a dove house. Like an eagle in a dovecote, I Fluttered your Volscians in Corioli. Shak.

y; in a descending direction; from the top of an ascent; from an upright position; to the ground or floor; to or into a lower or an inferior condition; as, into a state of humility, disgrace, misery, and the like; into a state of rest; -- used with verbs indicating motion. It will be rain to-night. Let it come down. Sh…

Cast downward; directed to the ground, from bashfulness, modesty, dejection, or guilt. 'T is love, said she; and then my downcast eyes, And guilty dumbness, witnessed my surprise. Dryden. - Down"cast`ly, adv. -- Down"cast`ness, n.

A luminous exhalation from marshy grounds.

To draw slowly or heavily onward; to pull along the ground by main force; to haul; to trail; -- applied to drawing heavy or resisting bodies or those inapt for drawing, with labor, along the ground or other surface; as, to drag stone or timber; to drag a net in fishing. Dragged by the cords which through his feet were…

To wet and soil by dragging on the ground, mud, or wet grass; to drabble; to trail. Gray. With draggled nets down-hanging to the tide. Trench.

A luminous exhalation from marshy grounds, seeming to move through the air as a winged serpent.

adually out or off; hence, to cause the exhaustion of. Fountains drain the water from the ground adjacent. Bacon. But it was not alone that the he drained their treasure and hampered their industry. Motley.

the thing moved; to pull along; to haul; to drag; to cause to follow. He cast him down to ground, and all along Drew him through dirt and mire without remorse. Spenser. He hastened to draw the stranger into a private room. Sir W. Scott. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats James ii. 6. Th…

ings, or associations; comfortless; dismal; gloomy. " Dreary shades." Dryden. "The dreary ground." Prior. Full many a dreary anxious hour. Keble. Johnson entered on his vocation in the most dreary part of that dreary interval which separated two ages of prosperity. Macaulay.

defiling matter contained in a liquid, or precipitated from it; refuse; feculence; lees; grounds; sediment; hence, the vilest and most worthless part of anything; as, the dregs of society. We, the dregs and rubbish of mankind. Dryden.

or sink. [R.] M. Arnold. Like to a withered vine That droops his sapless branches to the ground. Shak.

A dog which suddenly drops upon the ground when it sights game, -- formerly a common, and still an occasional, habit of the setter.

ench, on which the passengers ride as on a saddle, with their feet reaching nearly to the ground. Other kinds of vehicles are now so called, esp. a kind of victoria drawn by one or two horses, and used as a public carriage in German cities. [Written also droitzschka, and droschke.]