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To change the position of; to alter the bearings of; to turn; as, to shift the helm or sails. Carrying the oar loose, [they] shift it hither and thither at pleasure. Sir W. Raleigh.

To move ahead by force of momentum, as a sailing vessel when the helm is put hard alee. To shoot ahead, to pass or move quickly forward; to outstrip others.

ealize. German literature transformed, siderealized, as we see it in Goethe, reckons Winckelmann among its initiators. W. Pater.

he act of preaching; as, to silence a minister of the gospel. The Rev. Thomas Hooker of Chelmsford, in Essex, was silenced for nonconformity. B. Trumbull.

To be overwhelmed or depressed; to fall slowly, as so the ground, from weakness or from an overburden; to fail in strength; to decline; to decay; to decrease. I think our country sinks beneath the yoke. Shak. He sunk down in his chariot. 2 Kings ix. 24. Let not the fire sink or slacken. Mortimer.

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

Wanton; unchaste; loose in morals. Shak. Slippery elm. (Bot.) (a) An American tree (Ulmus fulva) with a mucilagenous and slightly aromatic inner bark which is sometimes used medicinally; also, the inner bark itself. (b) A malvaceous shrub (Fremontia Californica); -- so called on the Pacific coast.

the long-billed curlew. [U.S.] -- Spanish daggers (Bot.) See Spanish bayonet. -- Spanish elm (Bot.), a large West Indian tree (Cordia Gerascanthus) furnishing hard and useful timber. -- Spanish feretto, a rich reddish brown pigment obtained by calcining copper and sulphur together in closed crucibles. -- Spanish fla…

pply the place of for a time; to take the turn of, at work; to relieve; as, to spell the helmsman.

ound. See Watchman's rattle, under Watchman. -- To spring the luff (Naut.), to ease the helm, and sail nearer to the wind than before; -- said of a vessel. Mar. Dict. -- To spring a mast or spar (Naut.), to strain it so that it is unserviceable.

of arms. (Mil.) See under Arms. -- Stand of colors (Mil.), a single color, or flag. Wilhelm (Mil. Dict.) -- To be at a stand, to be stationary or motionless; to be at a standstill; hence, to be perplexed; to be embarrassed. -- To make a stand, to halt for the purpose of offering resistance to a pursuing enemy.…

To put to the right, or starboard, side of a vessel; as, to starboard the helm.

Impervious to the light of the stars; as, a starproof elm. [Poetic] Milton.

To direct a vessel in its course; to direct one's course. "No helmsman steers." Tennyson.

the steerage of a ship. He left the city, and, in a most tempestuous season, forsook the helm and steerage of the common wealth. Milton.

A rate of motion through the water sufficient to render a vessel governable by the helm.

One who steers; the helmsman of a vessel. Milton.

Helmsman. See 6th Steer. [Obs.] Chaucer.

The helm or tiller of a vessel or boat; also, the rudder. [Obs.] Chaucer.

that can be fastened upon him. Bp. Hall. All such slaughters were from thence called Bartelmies, simply in a perpetual stigma of that butchery. Sir G. Buck.