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form or action; elegant; easy; agreeable in appearance; as, a graceful walk, deportment, speaker, air, act, speech. High o'er the rest in arms the graceful Turnus rode. Dryden. -- Grace"ful*ly, adv. Grace"ful*ness, n.

An iron first speak or harpoon, having four or more barbed points.

her; the art concerned with the right use aud application of the rules of a language, in speaking or writing.

Speaking in a lofty style; pompous; bombastic.

Customary way of speaking or acting; custom; fashion; manner; behavior; mien; mode; practice; -- often used formerly in such phrases as: at his own guise; that is, in his own fashion, to suit himself. Chaucer. The swain replied, "It never was our guise To slight the poor, or aught humane despise." Pope.…

To speak gutturally; to give a guttural sound to.

Fig.: To mangle in speaking. Shak.

To stammer; to speak unintelligibly; to prevaricate. [Prov.Eng.] Halliwell.

The feast of All Saints, or Allhallows. To speak puling, like a beggar at Hallowmas. Shak.

or duty; a performer more or less skillful; as, a deck hand; a farm hand; an old hand at speaking. A dictionary containing a natural history requires too many hands, as well as too much time, ever to be hoped for. Locke. I was always reckoned a lively hand at a simile. Hazlitt.

To use or manage in writing or speaking; to treat, as a theme, an argument, or an objection. We will handle what persons are apt to envy others. Bacon. To handle without gloves. See under Glove. [Colloq.]

A buffoon, dressed in party-colored clothes, who plays tricks, often without speaking, to divert the bystanders or an audience; a merry-andrew; originally, a droll rogue of Italian comedy. Percy Smith. As dumb harlequin is exhibited in our theaters. Johnson. Harlequin bat (Zoöl.), an Indian bat (Scotophilus ornatus), c…

To dwell on or recur to a subject tediously or monotonously in speaking or in writing; to refer to something repeatedly or continually; -- usually with on or upon. "Harpings upon old themes." W. Irving. Harping on what I am, Not what he knew I was. Shak. To harp on one string, to dwell upon one subject with disagreeabl…

To stop, in speaking, with a sound like haw; to speak with interruption and hesitation. Cut it short; don't prose -- don't hum and haw. Chesterfield.

e; to cure of a disease, wound, or other derangement; to restore to soundness or health. Speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. Matt. viii. 8.

he hath heard my voice. Ps. cxvi. 1. They think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Matt. vi. 7. Hear him. See Remark, under Hear, v. i. -- To hear a bird sing, to receive private communication. [Colloq.] Shak. -- To hear say, to hear one say; to learn by common report; to receive by rumor. [Colloq.]…

A term of affectionate or kindly and familiar address. "I speak to thee, my heart." Shak.

A Hebrew idiom or custom; a peculiar expression or manner of speaking in the Hebrew language. Addison.

To speak Hebrew, or to conform to the Hebrew idiom, or to Hebrew customs.

To make the sound expressed by the word hem; hence, to hesitate in speaking. "Hem, and stroke thy beard." Shak.