Search the Dictionary

To spring or move suddenly, as by a jump or by jumps; to bound; to move swiftly. Also Fig. My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in the sky. Wordsworth.

To come down suddenly and forcibly; to fall; -- with on or upon. On me, me only, as the source and spring Of all corruption, all the blame light due. Milton.

r Gang. -- Live grass (Bot.), a grass of the genus Eragrostis. -- Live load (Engin.), a suddenly applied load; a varying load; a moving load; as a moving train of cars on a bridge, or wind pressure on a roof. Live oak (Bot.), a species of oak (Quercus virens), growing in the Southern States, of great durability, and…

A bell used in fowling at night, to frighten birds, and, with a sudden light, to make them fly into a net. The fowler's lowbell robs the lark of sleep. King.

A sudden thrust or pass, as with a sword.

A sudden roll of a ship to one side, as in heavy weather; hence, a swaying or staggering movement to one side, as that by a drunken man. Fig.: A sudden and capricious inclination of the mind.

restrial Physics), a disturbance of the earth's magnetic force characterized by great and sudden changes. -- Magnetic telegraph, a telegraph acting by means of a magnet. See Telegraph.

nate; hence, to spend; to dissipate. (c) To kill; to destroy. -- To make off, to go away suddenly. -- To make out, to succeed; to be able at last; to make shift; as, he made out to reconcile the contending parties. -- To make up, to become reconciled or friendly. -- To make up for, to compensate for; to supply an e…

Indulging or exercising malice; harboring ill will or enmity. I grant him bloody, . . . Sudden, malicious, smacking of every sin That has a name. Shak.

A sudden vertigo in a horse, succeeded sometimes by unconsciousness, produced by an excess of blood in the brain; a mild form of apoplexy. Youatt.

ted, and so on, it may be, by successive changes, into a key quite remote. There are also sudden and unprepared modulations.

Manner or style of moving; as, a slow, or quick, or sudden, movement.

One who rises suddenly from a low condition in life; an upstart. Bacon.

To catch or seize suddenly or unexpectedly. [Colloq.] Smollett.

A sudden awkening associated with a sensation of terror, occurring in children, esp. those of unstable nervous constitution.

niter] (Old Chem.), ammonium nitrate; -- probably so called because it deflagerates when suddenly heated.

A new star, usually appearing suddenly, shining for a brief period, and then sinking into obscurity. Such appearances are supposed to result from cosmic collisions, as of a dark star with interstellar nebulosities. The most important modern novæ are: -- No"va Co*ro"næ Bo`re*a"lis [1866]; No"va Cyg"ni [1876]; No"va An*d…

ondemned to perpetual imprisonment, or to perish secretly, were thrust, or lured to fall. Sudden in the sun An oubliette winks. Where is he Gone. Mrs. Browning.

See Outrage, v. i. [Obs.] This warn I you, that ye not suddenly Out of yourself for no woe should outraye. Chaucer.

The act of overthrowing; the state of being overthrow; ruin. Your sudden overthrow much rueth me. Spenser.