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To encourage; to favor; to approve; to aid; to abet. This conceit, though countenanced by learned men, is not made out either by experience or reason. Sir T. Browne. Error supports custom, custom countenances error. Milton.

on considered with reference to manner; or derly progress; procedure in a certain line of thought or action; as, the course of an argument. The course of true love never did run smooth. Shak.

ow; hence, to disorder; to distract; to craze. O, madam, my old hear is cracked. Shak. He thought none poets till their brains were cracked. Roscommon.

Quick; giddy; thoughtless. [Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.

, him last, him midst, and without end. Milton. And most attractive is the fair result Of thought, the creature of a polished mind. Cowper.

e; also, red color in general. Theugh jour be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Is. i. 18. A maid jet rosed over with the virgin crimson of modesty. Shak.

An intimate companion; a familiar frend. [Colloq.] He soon found his former cronies, though all rather the worse for the wear and tear of time. W. Irving.

Having a hard exterior, or a short, rough manner, though kind at heart; snappish; peevish; surly. Thou crusty batch of nature, what's the news Shak.

State Trials (1413). If he acts according to the best reason he hath, he is not culpable, though he be mistaken in his measures. Sharp.

To direct special attention to; to devote time and thought to; to foster; to cherish. Leisure . . . to cultivate general literature. Wordsworth.

Froward; malignant; mischievous; malicious; snarling. [Obs.] Though his mind Be ne'er so curst, his tonque is kind. Crashaw.

ment used by the ancients. It is supposed to have been similar to the modern kettle drum, though perhaps smaller.

To cast a gloom upon. With these forced thoughts, I prithee, darken not The mirth of the feast. Shak.

daze the world. Sir H. Taylor. He comes out of the room in a dazed state, that is an odd though a sufficient substitute for interest. Dickens.

y; the decay of virtue; the decay of the Roman empire; a castle in decay. Perhaps my God, though he be far before, May turn, and take me by the hand, and more -May strengthen my decays. Herbert. His [Johnson's] failure was not to be ascribed to intellectual decay. Macaulay. Which has caused the decay of the consonants…

o mislead or insnare; trickish; fraudulent; cheating; insincere. Harboring foul deceitful thoughts. Shak.

eclension of virtue, of science, of a state, etc. Seduced the pitch and height of all his thoughts To base declension. Shak.

eep. Milton. A question deep almost as the mystery of life. De Quincey. O Lord, . . . thy thought are very deep. Ps. xcii. 5.

ther; submission in opinion; regard; respect; complaisance. Deference to the authority of thoughtful and sagacious men. Whewell. Deference is the most complicate, the most indirect, and the most elegant of all compliments. Shenstone.

That which carries or conveys. Though air be the most favorable deferent of sounds. Bacon.