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e as near to the mark as possible, to guard that of his partner, which has been well laid before, or to strike off that of his antagonist. Pennant (Tour in Scotland. 1772). Curling irons, Curling tong, an instrument for curling the hair; -- commonly heated when used.

The pointless sword carried before English monarchs at their coronation, and emblematically considered as the sword of mercy; -- also called the sword of Edward the Confessor.

sion in; to gash; to sever; to divide. You must cut this flesh from off his breast. Shak. Before the whistling winds the vessels fly, With rapid swiftness cut the liquid way. Pope.

ll we perceive by our own understandings, we are as mucdark, and as void of knowledge, as before. Locke.

of making ostentatious or blustering parade or show. [R. & Colloq.] He must fight a duel before his claim to . . . dashism can be universally allowed. V. Knox.

To read aloud each line of (a psalm or hymn) before singing it, -- usually with off. [Colloq. New. Eng.] See Line, v. t.

One who is dead; -- commonly used collectively. And Abraham stood up from before his dead. Gen. xxiii. 3.

The guard set over a criminal before his execution.

by ambition. Burke. A man must have got his conscience thoroughly debauched and hardened before he can arrive to the height of sin. South. Her pride debauched her judgment and her eyes. Cowley.

A beginning or first attempt; hence, a first appearance before the public, as of an actor or public speaker.

A person who makes his (or her) first appearance before the public.

irtue; the decay of the Roman empire; a castle in decay. Perhaps my God, though he be far before, May turn, and take me by the hand, and more -May strengthen my decays. Herbert. His [Johnson's] failure was not to be ascribed to intellectual decay. Macaulay. Which has caused the decay of the consonants to follow somewha…

mony; becoming; fit; decorous; proper; seemly; as, decent conduct; decent language. Shak. Before his decent steps. Milton.

the Declaration of Independence (now preserved in Washington). In 1776 the Americans laid before Europe that noble Declaration, which ought to be hung up in the nursery of every king, and blazoned on the porch of every royal palace. Buckle.

lackstone. Declinatory plea (O. Eng. Law), the plea of sanctuary or of benefit of clergy, before trial or conviction; -- now abolished.

mate; to opine; to suppose. And deemest thou as those who pore, With aged eyes, short way before Emerson.

To lay before; to submit in a respectful manner; to refer; -- with to. Hereupon the commissioners . . . deferred the matter to the Earl of Northumberland. Bacon.

away the prime beauty and grace of; to rob of the choicest ornament. He died innocent and before the sweetness of his soul was defloured and ravished from him. Jer. Taylor.

spoil the form of; to mar in form; to misshape; to disfigure. Deformed, unfinished, sent before my time Into this breathing world. Shak.

to cheat; to overreach; as, to defraud a servant, or a creditor, or the state; -- with of before the thing taken or withheld. We have defrauded no man. 2 Cor. vii. 2. Churches seem injured and defrauded of their rights. Hooker.