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sible, by means of a degree of heat sufficient to melt the one and not the other, as an alloy of copper and lead; liquation. Ure.

degrade; to deteriorate. [Obs.] Embased the valleys, and embossed the hills. Sylvester. Alloy in coin of gold . . . may make the metal work the better, but it embaseth it. Bacon. Such pitiful embellishments of speech as serve for nothing but to embase divinity. South.

erty by a person to whom it has been intrusted; as, the embezzlement by a clerk of his employer's; embezzlement of public funds by the public officer having them in charge.

To employ. [Obs.] Skelton.

An agent employed to advance, in a covert manner, the interests of his employers; one sent out by any power that is at war with another, to create dissatisfaction among the people of the latter. Buzzing emissaries fill the ears Of listening crowds with jealousies and fears. Dryden.

The profit arising from office, employment, or labor; gain; compensation; advantage; perquisites, fees, or salary. A long . . . enjoyment of the emoluments of office. Bancroft.

in-. For ease of pronunciation it is commonly changed to em- before p, b, and m, as in employ, embody, emmew. It is sometimes used to give a causal force, as in enable, enfeeble, to cause to be, or to make, able, or feeble; and sometimes merely gives an intensive force, as in enchasten. See In-.

untry; native; domestic; popular; common; -- said especially of the written characters employed by the common people of ancient Egypt, in distinction from the hieroglyphics. See Demotic.

ountered at Waterloo. I will encounter with Andronicus. Shak. Perception and judgment, employed in the investigation of all truth, have in the first place to encounter with particulars. Tatham.

he attainment of an object; a systematic or continuous attempt; an effort; a trial. To employ all my endeavor to obey you. Sir P. Sidney. To do one's endeavor, to do one's duty; to put forth strenuous efforts to attain an object; -- a phrase derived from the Middle English phrase "to do one's dever" (duty). "Mr. Prynne…

To employ the attention and efforts of; to occupy; to engross; to draw on. Thus shall mankind his guardian care engage. Pope. Taking upon himself the difficult task of engaging him in conversation. Hawthorne.

Occupied; employed; busy.

That which engages; engrossing occupation; employment of the attention; obligation by pledge, promise, or contract; an enterprise embarked in; as, his engagements prevented his acceptance of any office. Religion, which is the chief engagement of our league. Milton.

To secure the support and aid of; to employ in advancing interest; as, to enlist persons in the cause of truth, or in a charitable enterprise.

Without mixture or alloy of anything; unqualified; morally whole; pure; faithful. Pure fear and entire cowardice. Shak. No man had ever a heart more entire to the king. Clarendon.

Without alloy or mixture; truly; sincerely. To highest God entirely pray. Spenser.

t; whoever undertakes on his own account an industrial enterprise in which workmen are employed. F. A. Walker.

ion, to another; climax; e. g., "He not only spared his enemies, but continued them in employment; not only continued, but advanced them." Johnson.

Pertaining to, or abounding with, epithets. "In epithetic measured prose." Lloyd.

The employment of a knight-errant. Johnson.