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Forcing or forced; -- a direction placed over a note, to signify that it must be executed with peculiar emphasis and force; -- marked fz (an abbreviation of forzando), sf, sfz, or

e resolution of. When his doctrines grew too strong to be shook by his enemies, they persecuted his reputation. Atterbury. Thy equal fear that my firm faith and love Can by his fraud be shaken or seduced. Milton.

Affecting the sense as if pointed or cutting, keen, penetrating, acute: to the taste or smell, pungent, acid, sour, as ammonia has a sharp taste and odor; to the hearing, piercing, shrill, as a sharp sound or voice; to the eye, instantaneously brilliant, dazzling, as a sharp flash.

Having quick or acute sight; -- used literally and figuratively. -- Sharp`-sight`ed*ness, n.

Having an acute or nicely discerning mind.

To render more quick or acute in perception; to make more ready or ingenious. The air . . . sharpened his visual ray To objects distant far. Milton. He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. Burke.

In a sharp manner,; keenly; acutely. They are more sharply to be chastised and reformed than the rude Irish. Spenser. The soldiers were sharply assailed with wants. Hayward. You contract your eye when you would see sharply. Bacon.

The quality or condition of being sharp; keenness; acuteness.

Acute; sharp; piercing; having or emitting a sharp, piercing tone or sound; -- said a sound, or of that which produces a sound. Hear the shrill whistle which doth order give To sounds confused. Shak. Let winds be shrill, let waves roll high. Byron.

In a shrill manner; acutely; with a sharp sound or voice.

Of or pertaining to siderography; executed by engraved plates of steel; as, siderographic art; siderographic impressions.

Artlessness of mind; freedom from cunning or duplicity; lack of acuteness and sagacity. Marquis Dorset, a man, for his harmless simplicity neither misliked nor much regarded. Hayward. In wit a man; simplicity a child. Pope.

A drawling or monotonous tone, as of a badly executed song.

r in the application of the art or science to practical purposes; power to discern and execute; ability to perceive and perform; expertness; aptitude; as, the skill of a mathematician, physician, surgeon, mechanic, etc. Phocion, . . . by his great wisdom and skill at negotiations, diverted Alexander from the conquest o…

Any plant of the labiate genus Scutellaria, the calyx of whose flower appears, when inverted, like a helmet with the visor raised.

f the voluntary and rational soul; that state of the animal in which there is a lessened acuteness of sensory perception, a confusion of ideas, and a loss of mental control, followed by a more or less unconscious state. "A man that waketh of his sleep." Chaucer. O sleep, thou ape of death. Shak.

Marked by acuteness or shrewdness; quick in suggestion or reply; vivacious; witty; as, a smart reply; a smart saying. Who, for the poor renown of being smart Would leave a sting within a brother's heart Young. A sentence or two, . . . which I thought very smart. Addison.

to be angry or offended. Shak. -- Up to snuff, not likely to be imposed upon; knowing; acute. [Slang]

To utter a sharp, shrill cry, usually of short duration; to cry with an acute tone, as an animal; or, to make a sharp, disagreeable noise, as a pipe or quill, a wagon wheel, a door; to creak. Who can endure to hear one of the rough old Romans squeaking through the mouth of an eunuch Addison. Zoilus calls the companions…

Anything that gives acute pain, bodily or mental; as, the stings of remorse; the stings of reproach. The sting of death is sin. 1 Cor. xv. 56.