Search the Dictionary

The study of physiognomy; the art of discovering the character of persons by their features, or the lines of the face.

To shed or cast; to change; to molt; as, the hawk mewed his feathers. Nine times the moon had mewed her horns. Dryden.

The feat of the archangel Michael, a church festival, celebrated on the 29th of September. Hence, colloquially, autumn. Michaelmas daisy. (Bot.) See under Daisy.

A particular feature or trait. [Obs.] Massinger.

f reaching a destination, or fail of the intended effect; to be unsuccessful; to suffer defeat. My ships have all miscarried. Shak. The cardinal's letters to the pope miscarried. Shak.

Changing in appearance and expression under the influence of the mind; as, mobile features.

y or state of being mobile; as, the mobility of a liquid, of an army, of the populace, of features, of a muscle. Sir T. Browne.

is gray; the tail and wings are blackish, with a white patch on each wing; the outer tail feathers are partly white. The name is also applied to other species of the same genus, found in Mexico, Central America, and the West Indies. -- Mocking thrush (Zoöl.), any species of the genus Harporhynchus, as the brown thrush…

To shed or cast the hair, feathers, skin, horns, or the like, as an animal or a bird. Bacon.

Resembling a Mongol or the Mongols; having race characteristics, such as color, hair, and features, like those of the Mongols. Huxley.

est tenement districts of Rome, Italy), and first fully described by her in 1909. Leading features are freedom for physical activity (no stationary desks and chairs), informal and individual instruction, the very early development of writing, and an extended sensory and motor training (with special emphasis on vision,…

s Momotus, having a strong serrated beak. In most of the species the two long middle tail feathers are racket-shaped at the tip, when mature. The bird itself is said by some writers to trim them into this shape. They feed on insects, reptiles, and fruit, and are found from Mexico to Brazil. The name is derived from its…

the plumed partridge (Oreortyx pictus) of California. It has two long, slender, plumelike feathers on the head. The throat and sides are chestnut; the belly is brown with transverse bars of black and white; the neck and breast are dark gray. -- Mountain range, a series of mountains closely related in position and dire…

A social entertainment of which music is the leading feature; a musical party. [Colloq.]

er; to enroll in service; to get together. "Mustering all its force." Cowper. All the gay feathers he could muster. L'Estrange. To muster troops into service (Mil.), to inspect and enter troops on the muster roll of the army. -- To muster troops out of service (Mil.), to register them for final payment and discharge.…

To cast off; to molt. Have I muted all my feathers Beau. & Fl.

r token by which a thing may be known; a visible sign; a character; a distinctive mark or feature; a characteristic quality. Whosoever appertain to the visible body of the church, they have also the notes of external profession. Hooker. She [the Anglican church] has the note of possession, the note of freedom from part…

A white variety of domestic pigeons having a veil of feathers covering the head.

er in rowing. -- To boat the oars, to cease rowing, and lay the oars in the boat. -- To feather the oars. See under Feather., v. t. -- To lie on the oars, to cease pulling, raising the oars out of water, but not boating them; to cease from work of any kind; to be idle; to rest. -- To muffle the oars, to put somethi…

Overhanging; as, obumbrant feathers.