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The act of pressing; compression; oppression.

stalked him full still. Chaucer. [Bertran] stalks close behind her, like a witch's fiend, Pressing to be employed. Dryden.

Impressing with infamy or reproach. [R.]

To regulate the sounds of, as musical strings, by pressing them against the finger board with the finger, or by shortening in any way the vibrating part.

rson or animal) until death results from stoppage of respiration; to choke to death by compressing the throat, as with the hand or a rope. Our Saxon ancestors compelled the adulteress to strangle herself. Ayliffe.

up an army, or any given number of men, in any geometrical figure, or of estimating or expressing the number of men in such a figure.

Eagerly pressing or urgent; zealous; ardent; earnest; bold; valiant; intrepid; as, a strenuous advocate for national rights; a strenuous reformer; a strenuous defender of his country. And spirit-stirring wine, that strenuous makes. Chapman. Strenuous, continuous labor is pain. I. Taylor. -- Stren"u*ous*ly, adv. -- Str…

To rib gently in one direction; especially, to pass the hand gently over by way of expressing kindness or tenderness; to caress; to soothe. He dried the falling drops, and, yet more kind, He stroked her cheeks. Dryden.

Mode of expressing thought in language, whether oral or written; especially, such use of language in the expression of thought as exhibits the spirit and faculty of an artist; choice or arrangement of words in discourse; rhetorical expression. High style, as when that men to kinges write. Chaucer. Style is the dress of…

Awakening or expressing the emotion of awe, adoration, veneration, heroic resolve, etc.; dignified; grand; solemn; stately; -- said of an impressive object in nature, of an action, of a discourse, of a work of art, of a spectacle, etc.; as, sublime scenery; a sublime deed. Easy in words thy style, in sense sublime. Pri…

Showing a readiness to submit; expressing submission; as, a submissive demeanor. With a submissive step I hasted down. Prior.

Tending to subordinate; expressing subordination; used to introduce a subordinate sentence; as, a subordinative conjunction.

Betokening or expressing existence; as, the substantive verb, that is, the verb to be.

maple (Bot.), the rock maple (Acer saccharinum). See Maple. -- Sugar mill, a machine for pressing out the juice of the sugar cane, usually consisting of three or more rollers, between which the cane is passed. -- Sugar mite. (Zoöl.) (a) A small mite (Tyroglyphus sacchari), often found in great numbers in unrefined su…

Expressing the highest or lowest degree of the quality, manner, etc., denoted by an adjective or an adverb. The superlative degree is formed from the positive by the use of -est, most, or least; as, highest, most pleasant, least bright. -- Su`per*la"tive*ly, adv. -- Su`per*la"tive*ness, n.

The act of suppressing, or the state of being suppressed; repression; as, the suppression of a riot, insurrection, or tumult; the suppression of truth, of reports, of evidence, and the like.

Expressing, or proceeding from, suspense or doubt. [Obs.] "Expectation held his look suspense." Milton.

or sweep up, a mold (Founding), to form the sand into a mold by a templet, instead of compressing it around the pattern.

The expressing of the sounds of a language by syllables, rather than by an alphabet or by signs for words. I. Taylor (The Alphabet).

Of or pertaining to a symbol or symbols; of the nature of a symbol; exhibiting or expressing by resemblance or signs; representative; as, the figure of an eye is symbolic of sight and knowledge. -- Sym*bol"ic*al*ly, adv. -- Sym*bol"ic*al*ness, n. The sacrament is a representation of Christ's death by such symbolical…