Search the Dictionary

Serving to give force or emphasis; as, an intensive verb or preposition.

Tending or serving to intimidate.

Serving to introduce; introductory. -- In`tro*duc"tive*ly, adv.

Serving to introduce something else; leading to the main subject or business; preliminary; prefatory; as, introductory proceedings; an introductory discourse.

Not relevant; not applicable or pertinent; not bearing upon or serving to support; foreign; extraneous; as, testimony or arguments irrelevant to a case. -- Ir*rel"a*vant*ly, adv.

Not reproachable; above reproach; not deserving reproach; blameless. He [Berkely] erred, -- and who is free from error -- but his intentions were irreproachable. Beattie.

Serving to excite or irritate; irritating; as, an irritative agent.

a line on a chart, marking the simultaneous development of a thunderstorm, as noted by observing the time when the thunder is heard at different places.

(a) The box on a door jamb into which the bolt of a lock protrudes, when shot. (b) A ring serving to keep another ring on the finger. (c) A loop near the buckle of a strap to receive the end of the strap.

Capable or deserving of being kicked. "A kickable boy." G. Eliot.

A piece of steel sharpened to an acute edge or angle, and resting on a smooth surface, serving as the axis of motion of a pendulum, scale beam, or other piece required to oscillate with the least possible friction. Knife-edge file. See Illust. of File.

In feudal times, a man-at-arms serving on horseback and admitted to a certain military rank with special ceremonies, including an oath to protect the distressed, maintain the right, and live a stainless life.

A division of the log line, serving to measure the rate of the vessel's motion. Each knot on the line bears the same proportion to a mile that thirty seconds do to an hour. The number of knots which run off from the reel in half a minute, therefore, shows the number of miles the vessel sails in an hour. Hence:…

Serving to denote objects by conventional signs or alphabetical characters; as, the original Greek alphabet of sixteen letters was called kyriologic, because it represented the pure elementary sounds. See Curiologic. [Written also curiologic and kuriologic.]

One or more detached verses at the end of a literary composition, serving to convey the moral, or to address the poem to a particular person; -- orig. employed in old French poetry. Shak.

An organ in insects and crustaceans covering the upper part of the mouth, and serving as an upper lip. See Illust. of Hymenoptera.

d fish a fish on land; a person quite out of place.Shak. -- Land force, a military force serving on land, as distinguished from a naval force. -- Land, ho! (Naut.), a sailor's cry in announcing sight of land. -- Land ice, a field of ice adhering to the coast, in distinction from a floe. -- Land leech (Zoöl.), any o…

Acting as a hired servant; serving; ministering; assisting. [Obs.]

he sleeve, to laugh secretly, or so as not to be observed, especially while apparently preserving a grave or serious demeanor toward the person or persons laughed at. -- To laugh out, to laugh in spite of some restraining influence; to laugh aloud. -- To laugh out of the other corner (or side) of the mouth, to weep o…

Deserving to be laughed at. [R.] B. Jonson.