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rocks of Derbyshire, England; -- said by some to be derived from the German todter stein, meaning dead stone, that is, stone which contains no ores.

To wrest from the proper meaning; to distort. Jar. Taylor.

A transfer of meaning in a word or phrase, a metaphor; a tralation. [Obs.] B. Jonson.

A prefix meaning three, thrice, threefold; as in tricolored, tridentate.

An unexplained word occurring in Chaucer, meaning, perhaps, an aromatic sweetmeat for sweetening the breath. T. R. Lounsbury. Under his tongue a truelove he bore. Chaucer. Truelove knot, a complicated, involved knot that does not readily untie; the emblem of interwoven affection or engagement; -- called also true-lover…

To understand the meaning of; to comprehend; as, do you twig me [Colloq.] Marryat.

Hence, to turn from the true form or meaning; to pervert; as, to twist a passage cited from an author.

in form with compounds of the negative prefix un- (see 2d Un-); as in undone (from undo), meaning unfastened, ruined; and undone (from 2d un- and done) meaning not done, not finished. Un- is sometimes used with an intensive force merely; as in unloose.

Accompanying strain; subordinate and underlying meaning; accompaniment; undertone. In the very [poetry] there often an undersong of sense which none beside the poetic mind . . . can comprehend. Landor.

To have just and adequate ideas of; to apprehended the meaning or intention of; to have knowledge of; to comprehend; to know; as, to understand a problem in Euclid; to understand a proposition or a declaration; the court understands the advocate or his argument; to understand the sacred oracles; to understand a nod or…

nd composing them into wholes, according to a law of unity; and in its most comprehensive meaning it includes even simple apprehension. Coleridge.

Having one meaning only; -- contrasted with equivocal.

Agreement of name and meaning. [Obs.] Whiston.

Wanting a distinct meaning; having no certain signification. [R.] Puller.

A suffix with the same meaning as -ide. See -ide. [Obs.]

Covered by, or as by, a veil; hidden. "Words used to convey a veiled meaning." Earle.

ically, a word considered as composed of certain sounds or letters, without regard to its meaning. Swamped near to drowning in a tide of ingenious vocables. Carlyle.

commissions, with the claim (in which England acquiesced) that it did not come within the meaning of the term privateer.

A word of doubtful meaning used once by Shakespeare. This [gold] is it That makes the wappen'd widow wed again.

er countenance. "He wears the rose of youth upon him." Shak. His innocent gestures wear A meaning half divine. Keble.