Search the Dictionary

A setting out, starting, or beginning. "The outset of a political journey." Burke. Giving a proper direction to this outset of life. J. Hawes.

Across or during the time of; from beginning to end of; as, to keep anything over night; to keep corn over winter.

To gather in flocks or schools; as, the grouse or the perch begin to pack. [Eng.]

ry inaction or waiting; hesitation; suspence; doubt. I stand in pause where I shall first begin. Shak.

Begin in or at peace; tranquil; quiet; free from, or not disposed to, war, disorder, or excitement; not quarrelsome. -- Peace"a*ble*ness, n. -- Peace"a*bly, adv.

To begin to appear; to look forth from concealment; to make the first appearance. When flowers first peeped, and trees did blossoms bear. Dryden.

The point where a declivity begins; hence, the declivity itself; a descending slope; the degree or rate of descent or slope; slant; as, a steep pitch in the road; the pitch of a roof.

A rendering plebeian; the act of vulgarizing. [R.] You begin with the attempt to popularize learning . . . but you will end in the plebification of knowledge. Coleridge.

To begin and not complete. [Obs.] Bacon.

A stately Polish dance tune, in 3-4 measure, beginning always on the beat with a quaver followed by a crotchet, and closing on the beat after a strong accent on the second beat; also, a dance adapted to such music; a polacca.

To put or fix before, or at the beginning of, another thing; as, to prefix a syllable to a word, or a condition to an agreement.

A formative letter at the beginning of a word. M. Stuart.

Of or pertaining to a period before written history begins; as, the prehistoric ages; prehistoric man.

Matters previously stated or set forth; esp., that part in the beginning of a deed, the office of which is to express the grantor and grantee, and the land or thing granted or conveyed, and all that precedes the habendum; the thing demised or granted.

The first part; the earliest stage; the beginning or opening, as of the day, the year, etc.; hence, the dawn; the spring. Chaucer. In the very prime of the world. Hooker. Hope waits upon the flowery prime. Waller.

A small elementary book for teaching children to read; a reading or spelling book for a beginner. As he sat in the school at his prymer. Chaucer.

Of or pertaining to the beginning or origin, or to early times; original; primordial; primeval; first; as, primitive innocence; the primitive church. "Our primitive great sire." Milton.

At the beginning; under the first order of things; originally.

First principles; fundamental beginnings; elements; as. Newton's Principia.

Relating to principles or beginnings. [R.] Jer. Taylor.