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An act by which the treats of prodigies were averted among the ancient heathen. [Obs.] Hayward.

or family; lineage; descent; birth; the stock from which one has descended. "A family of ancient extraction." Clarendon.

An ancient form of cannon. Chanting falcon. (Zoöl.) See under Chanting.

A senator of ancient Rome.

e appearance of a feather or of feathers; to be or to appear in feathery form. A clump of ancient cedars feathering in evergreen beauty down to the ground. Warren. The ripple feathering from her bows. Tennyson.

isfy; grafity or minister to, as any sense, talent, taste, or desire. I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him. Shak. Feeding him with the hope of liberty. Knolles.

An ancient officer of the court of wards. Burrill.

Ancient; old. [Obs.] "Pilgrimages to . . . ferne halwes." [saints]. Chaucer.

t fire. -- Fire opal, a variety of opal giving firelike reflections. -- Fire ordeal, an ancient mode of trial, in which the test was the ability of the accused to handle or tread upon red-hot irons. Abbot. -- Fire pan, a pan for holding or conveying fire, especially the receptacle for the priming of a gun. -- Fire…

Like fish; suggestive of fish; having some of the qualities of fish. A very ancient and fishlike smell. Shak.

An instrument used by the ancients in driving piles.

An ancient military weapon, like the common flail, often having the striking part armed with rows of spikes, or loaded. Fairholt. No citizen thought himself safe unless he carried under his coat a small flail, loaded with lead, to brain the Popish assassins. Macaulay.

de by combining together a number of thick wicks invested with a quick-burning substance (anciently, perhaps, wax; in modern times, pitch or the like); hence, any torch.

An ancient gold coin of the time of Edward III., of six shillings sterling value. Camden.

Preceding in order of time; antecedent; previous; prior; earlier; hence, ancient; long past. For inquire, I pray thee, of the former age. Job. viii. 8. The latter and former rain. Hosea vi. 3.

A part broken off; a small, detached portion; an imperfect part; as, a fragment of an ancient writing. Gather up the fragments that remain. John vi. 12.

A species of tenure in fee simple, being the opposite of ancient demesne, or copyhold. Burrill.

The liberty of being sworn in courts, as a juror or witness; one of the ancient privileges of a freeman; free and common law; -- an obsolete expression signifying substantially the same as the American expression civil rights. Abbot.

rom the Norway spruce (Abies excelsa) and other coniferous trees. The frankincense of the ancient Jews is still unidentified.

pledge or surety for the good behavior of freemen, -- each freeman who was a member of an ancient decennary, tithing, or friborg, in England, being a pledge for the good conduct of the others, for the preservation of the public peace; a free surety.