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Not affording firm ground for confidence; as, a slippery promise. The slippery tops of human state. Cowley.

To mollify; to make less fierce or intractable. Diffidence conciliates the proud, and softens the severe. Rambler.

gs suck the blood of other insects. -- Soldier crab (Zoöl.) (a) The hermit crab. (b) The fiddler crab. -- Soldier fish (Zoöl.), a bright-colored etheostomoid fish (Etheostoma coeruleum) found in the Mississippi River; -- called also blue darter, and rainbow darter. -- Soldier fly (Zoöl.), any one of numerous species…

To divulge a secret; to betray confidence; to peach. [Slang] Thackeray. To split on a rock, to err fatally; to have the hopes and designs frustrated.

To begin to doubt and waver in purposes; to become less confident or determined; to hesitate. He [Abraham] staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief. Rom. iv. 20.

weary, stale flat, and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world! Shak. Stale affidavit (Law), an affidavit held above a year. Craig. -- Stale demand (Law), a claim or demand which has not been pressed or demanded for a long time.

k company. (b) To put faith in; to accept as trustworthy; as, to take stock in a person's fidelity. [Slang] -- To take stock of, to take account of the stock of; to take an inventory of; hence, to ascertain the facts in regard to (something). [Eng.] At the outset of any inquiry it is proper to take stock of the results…

ich, is regarded as embodying or affording force, strength, or firmness; that on which confidence or reliance is based; support; security. God is our refuge and strength. Ps. xlvi. 1. What they boded would be a mischief to us, you are providing shall be one of our principal strengths. Sprat. Certainly there is not a gr…

urpose; ability; capacity. A substitute or most allowed sufficiency. Shak. I am not so confident of my own sufficiency as not willingly to admit the counsel of others. Eikon Basilike.

Certainly knowing and believing; confident beyond doubt; implicity trusting; unquestioning; positive. We are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. Rom. ii. 2. I'm sure care 's an enemy of life. Shak.

That which makes sure; that which confirms; ground of confidence or security. [We] our happy state Hold, as you yours, while our obedience holds; On other surety none. Milton.

I] swore little; diced not above seven times a week. Shak. To swear by, to place great confidence in a person or thing; to trust implicitly as an authority. "I simply meant to ask if you are one of those who swear by Lord Verulam." Miss Edgeworth. -- To swear off, to make a solemn vow, or a serious resolution, to abst…

lual silence, or reserve in speaking. The cause of Addison's taciturnity was a natural diffidence in the company of strangers. V. Knox. The taciturnity and the short answers which gave so much offense. Macaulay.

Confidence; reliance. [Prov. Eng.] Halliwell. Tack of a flag (Naut.), a line spliced into the eye at the foot of the hoist for securing the flag to the halyards. -- Tack pins (Naut.), belaying pins; -- also called jack pins. -- To haul the tacks aboard (Naut.), to set the courses. -- To hold tack, to last or hold ou…

he right or left; to move, as troops, to the right or left. -- To take heart, to gain confidence or courage; to be encouraged. -- To take heed, to be careful or cautious. "Take heed what doom against yourself you give." Dryden. -- To take heed to, to attend with care, as, take heed to thy ways. -- To take hold of,…

Private; confidential; familiar. She avoided tête-à-tête walks with him. C. Kingsley.

Through thick of bars, that gave a scanty light. Dryden. Thick-and-thin block (Naut.), a fiddle block. See under Fiddle. -- Through thick and thin, through all obstacles and difficulties, both great and small. Through thick and thin she followed him. Hudibras. He became the panegyrist, through thick and thin, of a mi…

sually said of felled trees, but sometimes of those standing. Cf. Lumber, 3. And ta'en my fiddle to the gate, . . . And fiddled in the timber! Tennyson.

d was to employ some one of a character and position suited to get possession of their confidence, and then use it to tone down their religious strictures. Palfrey. -- To tone up, to cause to give a higher tone or sound; to give a higher tone to; to make more intense; to heighten; to strengthen.

Hence, one who betrays any confidence or trust; a betrayer. "This false traitor death." Chaucer.