Search the Dictionary

A vain, showy fellow; a conceited, silly man, fond of display; a superficial pretender to knowledge or accomplishments; a fop. Fond to be seen, she kept a bevy Of powdered coxcombs at her levee. Goldsmith. Some are bewildered in the maze of schools, And some made coxcombs, nature meant but fools. Pope.…

y. -- Water crane, a kind of hydrant with a long swinging spout, for filling locomotive tenders, water carts, etc., with water.

To weaken; to impair; to render decrepit. [Obs.] Till length of years, And sedentary numbness, craze my limbs. Milton.

ul, spasmodic affection of the muscles of some part of the body, as of the neck or back, rendering it difficult to move the part. To those also that, with a crick or cramp, have thei necks drawn backward. Holland.

Guilty of crime or sin. The neglect of any of the relative duties renders us criminal in the sight of God. Rogers.

To involve in a crime or in its consequences; to render liable to a criminal charge. Impelled by the strongest pressure of hope and fear to criminate him. Macaulay.

To cause to contract, or to render more crisp, as the flesh of a fish, by gashing it, when living, with a knife; as, to crimp skate, etc. Crimping house, a low lodging house, into which men are decoyed and plied with drink, to induce them to ship or enlist as sailors or soldiers. -- Crimping iron. (a) An iron instrume…

A mineral occuring in silky fibers of a lavender blue color. It is related to hornblende and is essentially a silicate of iron and soda; -- called also blue asbestus. A silicified form, in which the fibers penetrating quartz are changed to oxide of iron, is the yellow brown tiger-eye of the jewelers.…

to browse; to pluck; to mow; to reap. I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one. Ezek. xvii. 22.

u strike again. Shak. They with their quills did all the hurt they could, And cuffed the tender chickens from their food. Dryden.

Rendering action or motion difficult or toilsome; serving to obstruct or hinder; burdensome; clogging. He sunk beneath the cumbrous weight. Swift. That cumbrousand unwieldy style which disfigures English composition so extensively. De Quincey.

nd in a curved form; to make a curl or curls. "Cirling billows." Dryden. Then round her slender waist he curled. Dryden. Curling smokes from village tops are seen. Pope. Gayly curl the waves before each dashing prow. Byron. He smiled a king of sickly smile, and curled up on the floor. Bret Harte. . 358…

A wading bird of the genus Numenius, remarkable for its long, slender, curved bill.

f, or prayer for, harm or injury; malediction. Lady, you know no rules of charity, Which renders good for bad, blessings for curses. Shak.

1 the customary toll,tax, or tribute. Render, therefore, to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom. Rom. xiii. 7.

A seat in old Scottish churches, where offenders were made to sit, for public rebuke by the minister.

Rendered blue, as the surface of the body, from cyanosis or deficient a

plied to many species of dipterous insects of the genus Tipula, and allied genera, with slender bodies, and very long, slender legs; the crane fly; -- called also father longlegs.

iety of photograph, produced on a silver plate, or copper plate covered with silver, and rendered sensitive by the action of iodine, or iodine and bromine, on which, after exposure in the camera, the latent image is developed by the vapor of mercury.

To render dainty, delicate, or fastidious. "Daintified emotion." Sat. rev.