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Corruption of morals; dissipation; dissoluteness. [Obs. or R.] Atterbury.

To force or put out of the true posture or direction; to twist aside mentally or morally. Wrath and malice, envy and revenge, do darken and distort the understandings of men. Tillotson.

privileges; to divest one's self of prejudices, passions, etc. Wretches divested of every moral feeling. Goldsmith. The tendency of the language to divest itself of its gutturals. Earle.

The science of divine things; the science which treats of God, his laws and moral government, and the way of salvation; theology. Divinity is essentially the first of the professions. Coleridge. , casuistry.

to infer from evidence or reasons; to deduce from premises; to derive. We do not draw the moral lessons we might from history. Burke.

and lingering utterance, from laziness, lack of spirit, affectation, etc. Theologians and moralists . . . talk mostly in a drawling and dreaming way about it. Landor.

or for another; that which belongs or may be claimed as a right; whatever custom, law, or morality requires to be done; a fee; a toll. He will give the devil his due. Shak. Yearly little dues of wheat, and wine, and oil. Tennyson.

That which a person is bound by moral obligation to do, or refrain from doing; that which one ought to do; service morally obligatory. Forgetting his duty toward God, his sovereign lord, and his country. Hallam.

owing to the natural size; to make or keep small; to stunt. Addison. Even the most common moral ideas and affections . . . would be stunted and dwarfed, if cut off from a spiritual background. J. C. Shairp.

The moving moral, as well as physical, forces of any kind, or the laws which relate to them.

An annual church festival commemorating Christ's resurrection, and occurring on Sunday, the second day after Good Friday. It corresponds to the pasha or passover of the Jews, and most nations still give it this name under the various forms of pascha, pasque, pâque, or pask.

go out on the ebb. Thou shoreless flood which in thy ebb and flow Claspest the limits of morality! Shelley.

The act of edifying, or the state of being edified; a building up, especially in a moral or spiritual sense; moral, intellectual, or spiritual improvement; instruction. The assured edification of his church. Bp. Hall. Out of these magazines I shall supply the town with what may tend to their edification. Addison.…

One who edifies, builds up, or strengthens another by moral or religious instruction.

To instruct and improve, especially in moral and religious knowledge; to teach. It does not appear probable that our dispute [about miracles] would either edify or enlighten the public. Gibbon.

A fresh-water tortoise (Chelopus marmoratus) of California; -- used as food.

; to display pompously; to decorate. The walls were . . . emblazoned with legends in commemoration of the illustrious pair. Prescott.

A picture accompanied with a motto, a set of verse, or the like, intended as a moral lesson or meditation.

a place or station above men in general, either in rank, office, or celebrity; social or moral loftiness; high rank; distinction; preferment. Milton. You 've too a woman's heart, which ever yet Affected eminence, wealth, sovereignty. Shak.

To give moral or physical power, faculties, or abilities to. "These eyes . . . empowered to gaze." Keble.