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little effort or difficulty; easily; readily. That lightly come, shall lightly go. Old Proverb. They come lightly by the malt, and need not spare it. Sir W. Scott.

A comparison; parable; proverb. [Obs.] He said to them, Soothly ye shall say to me this likeness, Leech, heal thyself. Wyclif (Luke iv. 23).

. An adverbial suffix; as, darkling, flatling.

The act or process of one who lists (in any sense of the verb); as, the listing of a door; the listing of a stock at the Stock Exchange.

According to the letter or verbal expression; real; not figurative or metaphorical; as, the literal meaning of a phrase. It hath but one simple literal sense whose light the owls can not abide. Tyndale .

Whole; entire; long in passing; -- used of time, as day or night, in adverbial phrases, and usually with a sense of tediousness. The obscure bird Clamored the livelong night. Shak. How could she sit the livelong day, Yet never ask us once to play Swift.

Verbal legerdemain; a playing with words. [R.] Coleridge.

espotic sway; -- sometimes with over; and sometimes with it in the manner of a transitive verb. The whiles she lordeth in licentious bliss. Spenser. I see them lording it in London streets. Shak. And lorded over them whom now they serve. Milton.

A suffix forming adjectives and adverbs, and denoting likeness or resemblance.

authority; having the manner of a magister; official; commanding; authoritative. Hence: Overbearing; dictatorial; dogmatic. When magisterial duties from his home Her father called. Glover. We are not magisterial in opinions, nor, dictator-like, obtrude our notions on any man. Sir T. Browne. Pretenses go a great way wi…

perform, or execute; -- often used with a noun to form a phrase equivalent to the simple verb that corresponds to such noun; as, to make complaint, for to complain; to make record of, for to record; to make abode, for to abide, etc. Call for Samson, that he may make us sport. Judg. xvi. 25. Wealth maketh many friends.…

An adult male servant; also, a vassal; a subject. Like master, like man. Old Proverb. The vassal, or tenant, kneeling, ungirt, uncovered, and holding up his hands between those of his lord, professed that he did become his man from that day forth, of life, limb, and earthly honor. Blackstone.

In a marked emphatic manner; -- used adverbially as a direction.

ed proposition of important practical truth; an axiom of practical wisdom; an adage; a proverb; an aphorism. 'T is their maxim, Love is love's reward. Dryden.

An auxiliary verb qualifyng the meaning of another verb, by expressing: (a) Ability, competency, or possibility; -- now oftener expressed by can. How may a man, said he, with idle speech, Be won to spoil the castle of his health ! Spenser. For what he [the king] may do is of two kinds; what he may do as just, and what…

A man; one; -- used with a verb in the singular, and corresponding to the present indefinite one or they. [Obs.] Piers Plowman. Men moot give silver to the poure triars. Chaucer. A privy thief, men clepeth death. Chaucer.

willing to give pain; compassionate. A merciful man will be merciful to his beast. Old Proverb.

Any notice, word, or communication, written or verbal, sent from one person to another. Ehud said, I have a message from God unto thee. Judg. iii. 20.

One who bears a message; the bearer of a verbal or written communication, notice, or invitation, from one person to another, or to a public body; specifically, an office servant who bears messages.

A verbal translation; a version or translation from one language into another, word for word; -- opposed to paraphrase. Dryden.