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g; a multitude or great number of persons. [Now Low or Humorous] The wisdom of a heap of learned men. Chaucer. A heap of vassals and slaves. Bacon. He had heaps of friends. W.Black.

, to receive private communication. [Colloq.] Shak. -- To hear say, to hear one say; to learn by common report; to receive by rumor. [Colloq.]

Earnestness; sincerity; heartiness. [R.] Clarendon.

One versed in the Hebrew language and learning.

Careful consideration; obedient regard. Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard. Heb. ii. 1.

Elevation in excellence of any kind, as in power, learning, arts; also, an advanced degree of social rank; preëminence or distinction in society; prominence. Measure your mind's height by the shade it casts. R. Browning. All would in his power hold, all make his subjects. Chapman.

as in delivering from a difficulty, or to aid in completing a design or task. The god of learning and of light Would want a god himself to help him out. Swift. -- To help over, to enable to surmount; as, to help one over an obstacle. -- To help to, to supply with; to furnish with; as, to help one to soup. -- To help…

and held him fast. Chaucer. But all that he might of his friendes hente On bookes and on learning he it spente. Chaucer.

A learning or knowing by inquiry; the knowledge of facts and events, so obtained; hence, a formal statement of such information; a narrative; a description; a written record; as, the history of a patient's case; the history of a legislative bill.

perform successfully; to attain to; to accord with; to be conformable to; to suit. Birds learning tunes, and their endeavors to hit the notes right. Locke. There you hit him; . . . that argument never fails with him. Dryden. Whose saintly visage is too bright To hit the sense of human sight. Milton. He scarcely hit my…

be the hope of his people. Joel iii. 16. A young gentleman of great hopes, whose love of learning was highly commendable. Macaulay.

The first book for children, or that from which in former times they learned their letters and rudiments; -- so called because a sheet of horn covered the small, thin board of oak, or the slip of paper, on which the alphabet, digits, and often the Lord's Prayer, were written or printed; a primer. "He teaches boys the h…

The study of the humanities; polite learning.

The branches of polite or elegant learning; as language, rhetoric, poetry, and the ancient classics; belles-letters.

An unlearned, ignorant, or simple person, as distinguished from the educated; an ignoramus. [Obs.] Christ was received of idiots, of the vulgar people, and of the simpler sort, while he was rejected, despised, and persecuted even to death by the high priests, lawyers, scribes, doctors, and rabbis. C. Blount.…

The state of being illiterate, or uneducated; want of learning, or knowledge; ignorance; specifically, inability to read and write; as, the illiteracy shown by the last census.

Want of learning; illiteracy. [R.] Ayliffe. Southey.

Illustrated; distinguished; illustrious. [Obs.] This most gallant, illustrate, and learned gentleman. Shak.

Want of perspicuity or clearness; vaguness; ambiguity.

impertinent; a thing out of place, or of no value. There are many subtile impertinences learned in schools. Watts.