Search the Dictionary

A cultivator of saffron; a dealer in saffron. [Obs.] Holinshed.

ion of the larynx or trachea, accompanied by a hoarse, ringing cough and stridulous, difficult breathing; esp., such an affection when associated with the development of a false membrane in the air passages (also called membranous croup). See False croup, under False, and Diphtheria.

Having, or displaying, superficial and undigested knowledge; without culture or profudity; as, a crude reasoner.

Anything that is very puzzling or difficult to explain. Dr. Sheridan. The perpetual crux of New Testament chronologists. Strauss.

Hidden; secret; occult. "Her [nature's] more cryptic ways of working." Glanvill.

Secretly; occultly.

of pepper (Piper Cubeba; in med., Cubeba officinalis), native in Java and Borneo, but now cultivated in various tropical countries. The dried unripe fruit is much used in medicine as a stimulant and purgative.

A powder of a violet red color, difficult to moisten with water, used for making violet or purple dye. It is prepared from certain species of lichen, especially Lecanora tartarea. Ure.

Rendering action 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.

A dwarf umbelliferous plant, somewhat resembling fennel (Cuminum Cyminum), cultivated for its seeds, which have a bitterish, warm taste, with an aromatic flavor, and are used like those of anise and caraway. [Written also cummin.] Rank-smelling rue, and cumin good for eyes. Spenser. Black cumin (Bot.), a plant (Nigella…

The faculty or act of using stratagem to accomplish a purpose; fraudulent skill or dexterity; deceit; craft. Discourage cunning in a child; cunning is the ape of wisdom. Locke. We take cunning for a sinister or crooked wisdom. Bacon.

Difficult to please or satisfy; solicitous to be correct; careful; scrupulous; nice; exact. [Obs.] Little curious in her clothes. Fuller. How shall we, If he be curious, work upon his faith Bean &

own a frigate into a sloop. -- To cut the knot or the Gordian knot, to dispose of a difficulty summarily; to solve it by prompt, arbitrary action, rather than by skill or patience. -- To cut lots, to determine lots by cuttings cards; to draw lots. -- To cut off. (a) To sever; to separate. I would to God, . . . The k…

See Cultch.

sease of the tonsils, throat, or windpipe, attended with inflammation, swelling, and difficulty of breathing and swallowing.

of the order Compositæ; also, any plant or flower of the genus. The numerous varieties of cultivated dahlias bear conspicuous flowers which differ in color.

Difficulty; sparingness. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Hard to suit; difficult to please. [Obs.] My wages ben full strait, and eke full small; My lord to me is hard and dangerous. Chaucer.

Destitute of knowledge and culture; in moral or intellectual darkness; unrefined; ignorant. The age wherin he lived was dark, but he Cobld not want light who taught the world oto see. Denhan. The tenth century used to be reckoned by mediæval historians as the darkest part of this intellectual night. Hallam.…

f, void, light, and naught. Holland. Deaf and dumb, without the sense of hearing or the faculty of speech. See Deaf-mute.