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of progress or of action; cessation; repression; interruption; check; obstruction. It is doubtful . . . whether it contributed anything to the stop of the infection. De Foe. Occult qualities put a stop to the improvement of natural philosophy. Sir I. Newton. It is a great step toward the mastery of our desires to give…

Fig.: A condition of narrowness or restriction; doubt; distress; difficulty; poverty; perplexity; -- sometimes in the plural; as, reduced to great straits. For I am in a strait betwixt two. Phil. i. 23. Let no man, who owns a Providence, grow desperate under any calamity or strait whatsoever. South. Ulysses made use of…

wn, heard, or seen; new. Here is the hand and seal of the duke; you know the character, I doubt not; and the signet is not strange to you. Shak.

The act of rubbing gently with the hand, or of smoothing; a stroke. I doubt not with one gentle stroking to wipe away ten thousand tears. Milton.

(probably the glands of Lieberkühn) of the small intestines. Its exact action is somewhat doubtful.

urance that a thing is, as we could possibly, supposing it were, we ought not to make any doubt of its existence. Tillotson.

Certainly knowing and believing; confident beyond doubt; implicity trusting; unquestioning; positive. We are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. Rom. ii. 2. I'm sure care 's an enemy of life. Shak.

In a sure or certain manner; certainly; infallibly; undoubtedly; assuredly. In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Gen. ii. 17. He that created something out of nothing, surely can raise great things out of small. South.

ve or billow; a great, rolling swell of water, produced generally by a high wind. He that doubteth is like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed. James i. 6 (Rev. Ver.) He flies aloft, and, with impetuous roar, Pursues the foaming surges to the shore. Dryden.

To hold to be uncertain; to doubt; to mistrust; to distruct; as, to suspect the truth of a story. Addison.

Distrusted; doubted. -- Sus*pect"ed*ly, adv. -- Sus*pect"ed*ness, n.

Expressing, or proceeding from, suspense or doubt. [Obs.] "Expectation held his look suspense." Milton.

A keeping of the hearer in doubt and in attentive expectation of what is to follow, or of what is to be the inference or conclusion from the arguments or observations employed.

Tending to suspend, or to keep in suspense; causing interruption or delay; uncertain; doubtful. "In suspensive thoughts." Beaumont. "A suspensive veto." Macaulay. The provisional and suspensive attitude. J. Morley. Suspensive condition (Scots Law), a condition precedent, or a condition without the performance of which…

To view with suspicion; to suspect; to doubt. [Obs. or Low] South.

took that for virtue and affection which was nothing but vice in a disguise. South. You'd doubt his sex, and take him for a girl. Tate.

," quod she. Chaucer. I thank thee for thine honest care. Shak. Weigh the danger with the doubtful bliss, And thank yourself if aught should fall amiss. Dryden.

Anxious; solicitous; concerned. Around her crowd distrust, and doubt, and fear, And thoughtful foresight, and tormenting care. Prior.

Indicating, or caused by, fear; as, timorous doubts. "The timorous apostasy of chuchmen." Milman. -- Tim"or*ous*ly, adv. -- Tim"or*ous*ness, n.

or permit negatively, by not preventing; not to restrain; to put up with; as, to tolerate doubtful practices. Crying should not be tolerated in children. Locke. We tolerate them because property and liberty, to a degree, require that toleration. Burke.