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To place one's self on, as a horse or other animal, or anything that one sits upon; to bestride.

in cock (Zoöl.), capercailzie. See Capercailzie. -- Mountain cork (Min.), a variety of asbestus, resembling cork in its texture. -- Mountain crystal. See under Crystal. -- Mountain damson (Bot.), a large tree of the genus Simaruba (S. amarga) growing in the West Indies, which affords a bitter tonic and astringent, s…

The quality or state of being munificent; a giving or bestowing with extraordinary liberality; generous bounty; lavish generosity. The virtues of liberality and munificence. Addison.

Very liberal in giving or bestowing; lavish; as, a munificent benefactor. -- Mu*nif"i*cent*ly, adv.

(Rom. Antiq.), a golden crown, or circle of gold indented so as to resemble a battlement, bestowed on him who first mounted the wall of a besieged place, and there lodged a standard.

mysteries in our holy religion, we should not be able to understand them, unless he would bestow on us some new faculties of the mind. Swift.

s stupor, coma, or convulsions, and, when given in sufficient quantity, causes death. The best examples are opium (with morphine), belladonna (with atropine), and conium. Nercotykes and opye (opium) of Thebes. Chaucer.

ponding changes of structure, and that those forms which have become so modified as to be best adapted to the changed environment have tended to survive and leave similarly adapted descendants, while those less perfectly adapted have tended to die out though lack of fitness for the environment, thus resulting in the su…

often called pitcher plants and monkey-cups. There are about thirty species, of which the best known is Nepenthes distillatoria. See Pitcher plant.

Undue attachment to relations; favoritism shown to members of one's family; bestowal of patronage in consideration of relationship, rather than of merit or of legal claim. From nepotism Alexander V. was safe; for he was without kindred or relatives. But there was another perhaps more fatal nepotism, which turned the ti…

minute and very careful workmanship in drawing, painting, or the like, esp. when bestowed on unimportant detail.

fool; a silly or stupid person. [Law] An old ninnyhammer, a dotard, a nincompoop, is the best language she can afford me. Addison.

on a text or author; a comment; a critical, explanatory, or illustrative observation. The best writers have been perplexed with notes, and obscured with illustrations. Felton.

splease any wight, Notwithstanding our great right. Chaucer's Dream. Those on whom Christ bestowed miraculous cures were so transported that their gratitude made them, notwithstanding his prohibition, proclaim the wonders he had done. Dr. H. More.

The act of objurgating; reproof. While the good lady was bestowing this objurgation on Mr.Ben Allen. Dickens. With a strong objurgation of the elbow in his ribs. Landor.

ectangular figure longer than it is broad; hence, any figure longer than it is broad. The best figure of a garden I esteem an oblong upon a descent. Sir W. Temple.

Of or pertaining to a siege. Obsidional crown (Rom.Antiq.), a crown bestowed upon a general who raised the siege of a beleaguered place, or upon one who held out against a siege.

ne's while. Hawthorne. Against this sort of condemnation one must steel one's self as one best can. G. Eliot.

opinion or doctrine that everything in nature, being the work of God, is ordered for the best, or that the ordering of things in the universe is such as to produce the highest good.

One who holds the opinion that all events are ordered for the best.