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Increase; enlargement. [Obs.] And toward the moon's attractive crescence bend. H. Brooke.

The pouchlike enlargement of the gullet of birds, serving as a receptacle for food; the craw.

The arrangement of a body of troops, either forward or rearward, so as to form a line nearly perpendicular to the general line of battle.

A gem engraved, or a plate embossed in low relief, for inlaying a vase or other object.

A small central plane in the back of a cut gem. See Collet, 3 (b).

The faculty or act of using stratagem to accomplish a purpose; fraudulent skill or dexterity; deceit; craft. Discourage cunning in a child; cunning is the ape of wisdom. Locke. We take cunning for a sinister or crooked wisdom. Bacon.

Development of cells in animal and vegetable organisms. See Gemmation, Budding, Karyokinesis; also Cell development, under Cell.

wo unaccented; as, L. tëgmînê, E. mer"ciful; -- so called from the similarity of its arrangement to that of the joints of a finger. [Written also dactyle.]

An engraver of gems for rings and other ornaments.

The art or process of gem engraving.

The art of writing or engraving upon gems.

That branch of archæology which has to do with gem engraving.

Post; mail; also, the mail or postal arrangements; -- spelt also dawk, and dauk. [India] Dak boat, a mail boat. Percy Smith. -- Dak bungalow, a traveler's rest-house at the and of a dak stage. -- To travel by dak, to travel by relays of palanquines or other carriage, as fast as the post along a road.…

An arrangement to attain a desired result by a combination of interested parties; -- applied to stock speculations and political bargains. [Slang]

to insure, warrant, or guarantee to his principal the solvency of the purchaser, the engagement of the factor being to pay the debt himself if it is not punctually discharged by the buyer when it becomes due.

To intrust to the care or management of another; to transfer; to assign; to commit. The delegated administration of the law. Locke. Delegated executive power. Bancroft. The power exercised by the legislature is the people's power, delegated by the people to the legislative. J. B. Finch.

Rule; management. [Obs.] Chaucer.

A yellow-green, transparent variety of garnet found in the Urals. It is valued as a gem because of its brilliancy of luster, whence the name.

Management; treatment. [Obs.] Vile demean and usage bad. Spenser.

Management; treatment; conduct. [Obs.] God commits the managing so great a trust . . . wholly to the demeanor of every grown man. Milton.