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or orders. And reigned, commanding in his monarchy. Shak. For the king had so commanded concerning [Haman]. Esth. iii. 2.

the execution of some trust; as, the interstate commerce commission. A commission was at once appointed to examine into the matter. Prescott.

um; something to be frequently consulted or referred to. Whatever, in my reading, occurs concerning this our fellow creature, I do never fail to set it down by way of commonplace. Swift. Commonplace book, a book in which records are made of things to be remembered.

r life; to commute tithes; to commute charges for fares. The sounds water and fire, being once annexed to those two elements, it was certainly more natural to call beings participating of the first "watery", and the last "fiery", than to commute the terms, and call them by the reverse. J. Harris The utmost that could b…

Compact; pressed close; concentrated; firmly united.

mpared with; in proportion to. [Archaic] "So miserably unpeopled in comparison of what it once was." Addison. -- Comparison of hands (Law), a mode of proving or disproving the genuineness of a signature or writing by comparing it with another proved or admitted to be genuine, in order to ascertain whether both were wr…

physical or moral force. Wolsey . . . compelled the people to pay up the whole subsidy at once. Hallam. And they compel one Simon . . . to bear his cross. Mark xv. 21.

The act of complying; a yielding; as to a desire, demand, or proposal; concession; submission. What compliances will remove dissension Swift. Ready compliance with the wishes of his people. Macaulay.

Capable of being understood; intelligible; conceivable by the mind. The horizon sets the bounds . . . between what is and what is not comprehensible by us. Locke.

A settlement by arbitration or by mutual consent reached by concession on both sides; a reciprocal abatement of extreme demands or rights, resulting in an agreement. But basely yielded upon compromise That which his noble ancestors achieved with blows. Shak. All government, indeed every human benefit and enjoyment, eve…

To make a final determination or judgment concerning; to judge; to decide. But no frail man, however great or high, Can be concluded blest before he die. Addison. Is it concluded he shall be protector Shak.

A compact, covenant, or agreement concerning anything.

uously up or down, as distinguished from a discrete movement, in which the voice leaps at once from one line of pitch to another. Rush.

A rearrangement or concentration of the different constituents of one or more substances into a distinct and definite compound of greater complexity and molecular weight, often resulting in an increase of density, as the condensation of oxygen into ozone, or of acetone into mesitylene. Condensation product (Chem.), a s…

To make more close, compact, or dense; to compress or concentrate into a smaller compass; to consolidate; to abridge; to epitomize. In what shape they choose, Dilated or condensed, bright or obscure. Milton. The secret course pursued at Brussels and at Madrid may be condensed into the usual formula, dissimulation, proc…

-- Bull's-eye condenser, or Bull's-eye (Optics), a lens of short focal distance used for concentrating rays of light. -- Injection condenser, a vessel in which steam is condensed by the direct contact of water. -- Surface condenser, an apparatus for condensing steam, especially the exhaust of a steam engine, by bring…

Consisting of a series of parallel cones, each made up of many concentric cones closely packed together; -- said of a kind of structure sometimes observed in sedimentary rocks.

To admit as true; to assent to; to acknowledge, as after a previous doubt, denial, or concealment. I never gave it him. Send for him hither, And let him confess a truth. Shak. As I confess it needs must be. Tennyson. As an actor confessed without rival to shine. Goldsmith.

A blowing together, as of many instruments in a concert, or of many fires in a foundry. [R.] Bacon.

To perplex; to disconcert; to abash; to cause to lose self- possession.