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The act of holding out, or offering, to others something false or feigned; presentation of what is deceptive or hypocritical; deception by showing what is unreal and concealing what is real; false show; simulation; as, pretense of illness; under pretense of patriotism; on pretense of revenging Cæsar's death.…

A claim made, whether true or false; a right alleged or assumed; a holding out the appearance of possessing a certain character; as, pretensions to scholarship. This was but an invention and pretension given out by the Spaniards. Bacon. Men indulge those opinions and practices that favor their pretensions. L'Estrange.…

The one of highest rank; one holding the highest place and authority; a sovereign; a monarch; -- originally applied to either sex, but now rarely applied to a female. Wyclif (Rev. i. 5). Go, Michael, of celestial armies prince. Milton. Queen Elizabeth, a prince admirable above her sex. Camden.

Possessing property; holding real estate, or other investments of money. "The propertied and satisfied classes." M. Arnold.

A position affording a fine view; a lookout. [R.] Him God beholding from his prospect high. Milton.

and stout staff formerly used as a weapon of defense and offense; -- so called because in holding it one hand was placed in the middle, and the other between the middle and the end.

A frame or device of various construction for holding, and preventing the waste of, hay, grain, etc., supplied to beasts.

A pawl, click, or detent, for holding or propelling a ratchet wheel, or ratch, etc.

oubly redoubled strokes upon the foe. Shak. n. An optional bid made by the side currently holding the highest bid for the contract, after the opposing side has doubled. This bid increases the score for successfully making the contract, and increases the penalties for failing. The score or penalty depends on the number…

consisting of radial arms with horizontal stats, connected with a harvesting machine, for holding the stalks of grain in position to be cut by the knives. Reel oven, a baker's oven in which bread pans hang suspended from the arms of a kind of reel revolving on a horizontal axis. Knight.

The act of remembering; a holding in mind, or bringing to mind; recollection. Lest fierce remembrance wake my sudden rage. Milton. Lest the remembrance of his grief should fail. Addison.

The state of holding something in the mind as a subject of contemplation, or of being inclined to reflect upon something; a state consciousness; conviction; feeling; impression. [Obs.] He retains vivid resentments of the more solid morality. Dr. H. More. It is a greater wonder that so many of them die, with so little r…

The act of reserving, or keeping back; concealment, or withholding from disclosure; reserve. A. Smith. With reservation of an hundred knights. Shak. Make some reservation of your wrongs. Shak.

The act or process of restraining, or of holding back or hindering from motion or action, in any manner; hindrance of the will, or of any action, physical or mental. No man was altogether above the restrains of law, and no man altogether below its protection. Macaulay.

The act of withholding; retraint; reserve. Shak.

The quality or state of being reticent, or keeping silence; the state of holding one's tonque; refraining to speak of that which is suggested; uncommunicativeness. Such fine reserve and noble reticence. Tennyson.

An instrument for holding apart the edges of a wound during amputation.

To fail to follow suit when holding a card of the suit led, in violation of the rule of the game; to renege. Hoyle.

A trough or sluice having cleats, grooves, or steps across the bottom for holding quicksilver and catching particles of gold when auriferous earth is washed; also, one of the cleats, grooves, or steps in such a trough. Also called ripple.

Having the right or just claim according to established laws; being or holding by right; as, the rightful heir to a throne or an estate; a rightful king.