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An original settlement in a new country; a colony. While these plantations were forming in Connecticut. B. Trumbull.

ool. To point a rope (Naut.), to taper and neatly finish off the end by interweaving the nettles. -- To point a sail (Naut.), to affix points through the eyelet holes of the reefs. -- To point off, to divide into periods or groups, or to separate, by pointing, as figures. -- To point the yards (of a vessel) (Naut.),…

The settled method by which the government and affairs of a nation are, or may be, administered; a system of public or official administration, as designed to promote the external or internal prosperity of a state.

Having, or conforming to, a settled system of administration. [R.] "A political government." Evelyn.

Important; momentous; forcible. "Your more ponderous and settled project." Shak.

ate given to a child or heir, or descending to him by law, and distributed to him in the settlement of the estate; an inheritance. Give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. Luke xv. 12.

Prescribed by express enactment or institution; settled by arbitrary appointment; said of laws. In laws, that which is natural bindeth universally; that which is positive, not so. Hooker.

Being or happening after marriage; as, a postnuptial settlement on a wife. Kent.

berties of the Gallican church; the other, issued by Charles VI. of Germany, A. D. 1724, settled his hereditary dominions on his eldest daughter, the Archduchess Maria Theresa.

To spring or bound, as a horse in high mettle. Now rule thy prancing steed. Gay.

To concert or arrange beforehand; to settle by previous agreement.

To settle upon (public land) with a right of preemption, as under the laws of the United States; to take by preëmption.

The right of an actual settler upon public lands (particularly those of the United States) to purchase a certain portion at a fixed price in preference to all other applicants. Abbott.

Settlement beforehand.

To set or appoint beforehand; to settle or establish antecedently. [Obs.] " Prefixed bounds. " Locke. And now he hath to her prefixt a day. Spenser.

Consciousness of power; fullness of animal spirits; mettle; wantonness; hence, lust; sexual desire; esp., an excitement of sexual appetite in a female beast. [Obs.] Pride of India, or Pride of China. (Bot.) See Margosa. -- Pride of the desert (Zoöl.), the camel.

A settled rule of action; a governing law of conduct; an opinion or belief which exercises a directing influence on the life and behavior; a rule (usually, a right rule) of conduct consistently directing one's actions; as, a person of no principle. All kinds of dishonesty destroy our pretenses to an honest principle of…

r private knowledge; privy. [Obs.] Private act or statute, a statute exclusively for the settlement of private and personal interests, of which courts do not take judicial notice; -- opposed to a general law, which operates on the whole community. -- Private nuisance or wrong. See Nuisance. -- Private soldier. See Pr…

r burden; a prerogative; advantage; franchise. He pleads the legal privilege of a Roman. Kettlewell. The privilege birthright was a double portion. Locke. A people inheriting privileges, franchises, and liberties. Burke.

The trial of a ministerial candidate's qualifications prior to his ordination, or to his settlement as a pastor. (c) Moral trial; the state of man in the present life, in which he has the opportunity of proving his character, and becoming qualified for a happier state. No [view of human life] seems so reasonable as tha…