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The basis on which anything rests; foundation. Hence: The foundation of knowledge, belief, or conviction; a premise, reason, or datum; ultimate or first principle; cause of existence or occurrence; originating force or agency; as, the ground of my hope.

To form an opinion concerning, without knowledge or means of knowledge; to judge of at random; to conjecture. First, if thou canst, the harder reason guess. Pope.

Formed or acquired by habit or use. An habitual knowledge of certain rules and maxims. South.

pproximately a half, whether more or less; partial; imperfect; as, a half dream; half knowledge. Assumed from thence a half consent. Tennyson. Half ape (Zoöl.), a lemur. -- Half back. (Football) See under 2d Back. -- Half bent, the first notch, for the sear point to enter, in the tumbler of a gunlock; the halfcock no…

iated with the Celtic or Alpine race. It was characterized by expert use of bronze, a knowledge of iron, possession of domestic animals, agriculture, and artistic skill and sentiment in manufacturing pottery, ornaments, etc.

To pledge by the hand; to handfast. [R.]

To pledge; to bind; to betroth by joining hands, in order to cohabitation, before the celebration of marriage. [Obs.]

In a handfast or publicly pledged manner. [Obs.] Holinshed.

The chief of a frankpledge, tithing, or decennary, consisting of ten families; -- called also borsholder, boroughhead, boroughholder, and sometimes tithingman. See Borsholder. [Eng.] Blackstone.

vidual of the pagan or unbelieving nations, or those which worship idols and do not acknowledge the true God; a pagan; an idolater.

The knowledge of herbs.

One skilled in the knowledge of plants; a collector of, or dealer in, herbs, especially medicinal herbs.

Contrary to, or differing from, some acknowledged standard, as the Bible, the creed of a church, the decree of a council, and the like; not orthodox; heretical; -- said of opinions, doctrines, books, etc., esp. upon theological subjects. Raw and indigested, heterodox, preaching. Strype.

To withhold from knowledge; to keep secret; to refrain from avowing or confessing. Heaven from all creatures hides the book of fate. Pope.

The act of hiding or concealing, or of withholding from view or knowledge; concealment. There was the hiding of his power. Hab. iii. 4.

or drawn. High, low, jack, and the game, a game at cards; -- also called all fours, old sledge, and seven up. -- In high and low, utterly; completely; in every respect. [Obs.] Chaucer. -- On high, aloft; above. The dayspring from on high hath visited us. Luke i. 78. -- The Most High, the Supreme Being; God.…

A learning or knowing by inquiry; the knowledge of facts and events, so obtained; hence, a formal statement of such information; a narrative; a description; a written record; as, the history of a patient's case; the history of a legislative bill.

Those books of the New Testament which were acknowledged as canonical by the early church; -- distinguished from antilegomena.

se duty it is to attend the queen when she appears in public. -- On one's honor, on the pledge of one's honor; as, the members of the House of Lords in Great Britain, are not under oath, but give their statements or verdicts on their honor. -- Point of honor, a scruple or nice distinction in matters affecting one's h…

A book containing the rudiments of any science or branch of knowledge; a manual; a handbook.