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Not strict or stringent; not exact; loose; weak; vague; equivocal. The discipline was lax. Macaulay. Society at that epoch was lenient, if not lax, in matters of the passions. J. A. Symonds. The word "æternus" itself is sometimes of a lax signification. Jortin.

The state or quality of being lax; want of tenseness, strictness, or exactness.

The state or quality of being lax; want of tenseness, strictness, or exactness.

A court-leet; the district within the jurisdiction of a court- leet; the day on which a court-leet is held. Shak.

Strictness, or the doctrine of strictness, in conforming to law.

One who practices or advocates strict conformity to law; in theology, one who holds to the law of works. See Legal, 2 (a).

legate, or envoy, and the persons associated with him in his mission; an embassy; or, in stricter usage, a diplomatic minister and his suite; a deputation.

Not strict or rigorous; not confined or restricted to the literal sense; free; as, a liberal translation of a classic, or a liberal construction of law or of language.

That deviation from strict fact, form, or rule, in which an artist or writer indulges, assuming that it will be permitted for the sake of the advantage or effect gained; as, poetic license; grammatical license, etc.

se practices. South. Many were not easy to be governed, nor like to conform themselves to strict rules. Clarendon.

A restriction; a check; a curb; a hindrance. I prithee, give no limits to my tongue. Shak.

Limiting, or tending to limit; restrictive. Doctrines limitary, if not subversive of the papal power. Milman.

That which limits; a restriction; a qualification; a restraining condition, defining circumstance, or qualifying conception; as, limitations of thought. The cause of error is ignorance what restraints and limitations all principles have in regard of the matter whereunto they are applicable. Hooker.

Confined within limits; narrow; circumscribed; restricted; as, our views of nature are very limited. Limited company, a company in which the liability of each shareholder is limited by the number of shares he has taken, so that he can not be called on to contribute beyond the amount of his shares. [Eng.] Mozley & W.…

A friar licensed to beg within certain bounds, or whose duty was limited to a certain district. [Formerly written also limitour.] Chaucer. A limitour of the Gray Friars, in the time of his limitation, preached many times, and had one sermon at all times. Latimer.

Giving a strict or literal construction; unimaginative; matter-of fast; -- applied to persons. Literal contract (Law), contract of which the whole evidence is given in writing. Bouvier. -- Literal equation (Math.), an equation in which known quantities are expressed either wholly or in part by means of letters; -- dis…

To make literal; to interpret or put in practice according to the strict meaning of the words; -- opposed to spiritualize; as, to literalize Scripture.

venliness; scattered rubbish. Strephon, who found the room was void. Stole in, and took a strict survey Of all the litter as it lay. Swift.

o (Eng. Universities), a public examination about the middle of the course, which as less strict and important than the final one; -- called also smalls. Cf. Great go, under Great. Thackeray. -- Little hours (R. C. Ch.), the offices of prime, tierce, sext, and nones. Vespers and compline are sometimes included. -- Li…

One who favors or adheres strictly to a liturgy. Milton.