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An assembly of men summoned or convened for consultation, deliberation, or advice; as, a council of physicians for consultation in a critical case.

Examination of consequences; exercise of deliberate judgment; prudence. They all confess, therefore, in the working of that first cause, that counsel is used. Hooker.

The relation of two weights or forces which balance each other; equilibrum; equiponderance. The pendulous round eart, with balanced air, In counterpoise. Milton.

red or protected in the earlier period of existence; as, a cradle of crime; the cradle of liberty. The cradle that received thee at thy birth. Cowper. No sooner was I crept out of my cradle But I was made a king, at nine months old. Shak.

The liberty of using a crane, as for loading and unloading vessels.

il; as, the criminal code. The officers and servants of the crown, violating the personal liberty, or other right of the subject . . . were in some cases liable to criminal process. Hallam. Criminal action (Law), an action or suit instituted to secure conviction and punishment for a crime. -- Criminal conversation (La…

nment under the mark system, restraint intermediate between imprisonment and freedom, and liberation on ticket of leave.

State of being guarded and watched to prevent escape; restraint of liberty; confinement; imprisonment. What pease will be given To us enslaved, but custody severe, And stripes and arbitrary punishment Milton.

The circle or compass of the arts and sciences (originally, of the seven so-called liberal arts and sciences); circle of human knowledge. Hence, a work containing, in alphabetical order, information in all departments of knowledge, or on a particular department or branch; as, a cyclopedia of the physical sciences, or o…

To contend in words; to dispute; hence, to deliberate; to consider; to discuss or examine different arguments in the mind; -- often followed by on or upon. He presents that great soul debating upon the subject of life and death with his intimate friends. Tatler.

Controversy; deliberation; debate. [R.] A serious question and debatement with myself. Milton.

One who is given to intemperance or bacchanalian excesses; a man habitually lewd; a libertine.

as paid a soldier's debt. Shak. When you run in debt, you give to another power over your liberty. Franklin.

A kind of novation by which a debtor, to be liberated from his creditor, gives him a third person, who becomes obliged in his stead to the creditor, or to the person appointed by him. Pothier.

To set free from restraint; to set at liberty; to release; to liberate, as from control; to give up; to free; to save; to rescue from evil actual or feared; -- often with from or out of; as, to deliver one from captivity, or from fear of death. He that taketh warning shall deliver his soul. Ezek. xxxiii. 5. Promise was…

The act of delivering from restraint; rescue; release; liberation; as, the delivery of a captive from his dungeon.

Capable of being deluded; liable to be imposed on gullible. Sir T. Browne.

ge relative to the care and culture of the people; sociology in its broadest sense; -- in library cataloguing.

A kind of short-barreled pocket pistol, of very large caliber, often carrying a half-ounce ball.

That which is determined upon; result of deliberation; purpose; conclusion formed; fixed resolution. So bloodthirsty a determination to obtain convictions. Hallam.