Search the Dictionary

ny widow have children or nephews [Rev. Ver. grandchildren,]. 1 Tim. v. 4. If naturalists say true that nephews are often liker to their grandfathers than to their fathers. Jer. Taylor.

Foolish; silly; simple; ignorant; also, weak; effeminate. [Obs.] Gower. But say that we ben wise and nothing nice. Chaucer.

thing] (Law), the general issue in certain actions of debt. -- Nihil dicit Etym: [L., he says nothing] (Law), a declinature by the defendant to plead or answer. Tomlins.

To spread by rumor or report. All these sayings were noised abroad. Luke i. 65.

A notable saying. [Obs.] Chaucer.

a trifle. Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought. Is. xli. 24. 'T is nothing, says the fool; but, says the friend, This nothing, sir, will bring you to your end. Dryden.

r L'Estrange. Why should he live, now nature bankrupt is Shak. Then cried they all again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas. Now, Barabbas was a robber. John xviii. 40. The other great and undoing mischief which befalls men is, by their being misrepresented. Now, by calling evil good, a man is misrepresented to others…

That which is null. Was it not absurd to say that the convention was supreme in the state, and yet a nullity Macaulay.

A disputer; a gainsayer. [Obs.] Bale.

To express as what has been noticed; to utter as a remark; to say in a casual or incidental way; to remark.

oannes Sturmius. Ascham. Patients have sometimes coveted odd things. Arbuthnot. Locke's Essay would be a very odd book for a man to make himself master of, who would get a reputation by critical writings. Spectator.

To make an attempt; to make an essay or a trial; -- used with at. "Without offering at any other remedy." Swift. He would be offering at the shepherd's voice. L'Estrange. I will not offer at that I can not master. Bacon.

In continuance; without interruption or ceasing; as, sleep on, take your ease; say on; sing on.

They say, or it is said. -- n.

articulating organs; -- said of vowels; as, the än fär is open as compared with the a in say.

by oratory; rhetorical; becoming to an orator; as, an oratorical triumph; an oratorical essay. -- Or`a*tor"ic*al*ly, adv.

often used as opposed to real or actual; as, an ostensible reason, motive, or aim. D. Ramsay.

ess, or motion; to catch up with. Follow after the men; and when thou dost overtake them, say . . . Wherefore have ye rewarded evil for good. Gen. xliv. 4. He had him overtaken in his flight. Spenser.

To say in too many words; to express verbosely. Hales.

Material of inferior value, serving to extend a book, essay, etc. London Sat. Rev.