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A messenger sent with haste to convey letters or dispatches, usually on public busuness. The wary Bassa . . . by speedy couriers, advertised Solyman of the enemy's purpose. Knolles.

he people are brought off from the wreck. Cat's cradle. See under Cat. -- Cradle hole, a sunken place in a road, caused by thawing, or by travel over a soft spot. -- Cradle scythe, a broad scythe used in a cradle for cutting grain.

y a crane; -- with up. [R.] What engines, what instruments are used in craning up a soul, sunk below the center, to the highest heavens. Bates. An upstart craned up to the height he has. Massinger.

The creed, as sung or read in the Roman Catholic church. He repeated Aves and Credos. Macualay.

Flying in the twilight or evening, or before sunrise; -- said certain birds and insects. Others feed only in the twilight, as bats and owls, and are called crepuscular. Whewell.

large rivers of Africa, Asia, and America. The eggs, laid in the sand, are hatched by the sun's heat. The best known species is that of the Nile (C. vulgaris, or C. Niloticus). The Florida crocodile (C. Americanus) is much less common than the alligator and has longer jaws. The name is also sometimes applied to the spe…

Exposing linen to the sun, on the grass, in the process of bleaching.

To soothe by singing softly. The fragment of the childish hymn with which he sung and crooned himself asleep. Dickens.

de so as to involve ludicrous combinations of ideas. Pepys. To be at cross-purposes, to misunderstand or to act counter to one another without intending it; -- said of persons.

h a crown. Crown of aberration (Astron.), a spurious circle around the true circle of the sun. -- Crown antler (Zoöl.), the topmost branch or tine of an antler; also, an antler having a cuplike top, with tines springing from the rim. -- Crown bar, one of the bars which support the crown sheet of steam-boiler furnace.…

or motion difficult or toilsome; serving to obstruct or hinder; burdensome; clogging. He sunk beneath the cumbrous weight. Swift. That cumbrousand unwieldy style which disfigures English composition so extensively. De Quincey.

upon; to execrate. Thou shalt not . . . curse the ruler of thy people. Ex. xxii. 28. Ere sunset I'll make thee curse the deed. Shak.

To inclose as with curtains; to furnish with curtains. So when the sun in bed Curtained with cloudy red. Milton.

Shortened or reduced; -- said of the distance of a planet from the sun or earth, as measured in the plane of the ecliptic, or the distance from the sun or earth to that point where a perpendicular, let fall from the planet upon the plane of the ecliptic, meets the ecliptic. Curtate cycloid. (Math.) See Cycloid.…

he same day of the year; -- so called from Meton, who first proposed it. -- Cycle of the sun, Solar cycle, a period of 28 years, at the end of which time the days of the month return to the same days of the week. The dominical or Sunday letter follows the same order; hence the solar cycle is also called the cycle of t…

age or harm; to be injured or impaired in soudness or value; as. some colors in damage in sunlight.

Dejected; depressed; sunk. [R.] All these and more came flocking, but with looks Downcast and damp. Milton.

To throw suddenly or rapidly; to send forth; to emit; to shoot; as, the sun darts forth his beams. Or what ill eyes malignant glances dart Pope.

The break of day; the first appeareance of light in the morning; show of approaching sunrise. And oft at dawn, deep noon, or falling eve. Thomson. No sun, no moon, no morn, no noon, No dawn, no dusk, no proper time of day. Hood.

The time of light, or interval between one night and the next; the time between sunrise and sunset, or from dawn to darkness; hence, the light; sunshine.