Search the Dictionary

A sudden and complete failure; an utter failure of any kind; a breakdown. [Colloq.]

des the real character of anything; semblance; excuse; disguise; appearance. They had let down the boat into the sea, under color as though they would have cast anchors out of the foreship. Acts xxvii. 30. That he should die is worthy policy; But yet we want a color for his death. Shak.

and straight with, or as with, a comb; as, to comb hair or wool. See under Combing. Comb down his hair; look, look! it stands upright. Shak.

ver, 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.

Bearing a tuft of soft hairs or down, as the seeds of milkweed. Gray.

keyhole saw. -- Compass timber (Shipbuilding), curved or crooked timber. -- Compass window (Arch.), a circular bay window or oriel window. It has two or more magnetic needles permanently attached to a card, which moves freely upon a pivot, and is read with reference to a mark on the box representing the ship's head.…

Rounded; arched. [Obs.] She came . . . into the compassed window. Shak.

ost powerful part of our people. Addison. They strive with their own hearts and keep them down, In complaisance to all the fools in town. Young.

. Lest this part of knowledge should seem to any not comprehensible by axiom, we will set down some heads of it. Bacon.

Endowed with fancy or imagination. [Obs.] He was . . . pleasantly conceited, and sharp of wit. Knolles.

t in which several voices or instruments take part. Visit by night your lady's chamber window With some sweet concert. Shak. And boding screech owls make the concert full. Shak. Concert pitch. See under Pitch.

ct laws. -- Concrete sound or movement of the voice, one which slides continuously 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 plea, in which it is alleged that the woman suing for dower was not lawfully married to the man in whose lands she seeks to be endowed, but that she was his concubine.

To stoop or descend; to let one's self down; to submit; to waive the privilege of rank or dignity; to accommodate one's self to an inferior. "Condescend to men of low estate." Rom. xii. 16. Can they think me so broken, so debased With corporal servitude, that my mind ever Will condescend to such absurd commands Milton.…

effect; an essential qualification; stipulation; terms specified. I had as lief take her dowry with this condition, to be whipped at the high cross every morning. Shak. Many are apt to believe remission of sins, but they believe it without the condition of repentance. Jer. Taylor.

ter of a volcano, usually heaped up in a conical form. Now had Night measured with her shadowy cone Half way up hill this vast sublunar vault. Milton.

r confessions; often a small structure furnished with a seat for the priest and with a window or aperture so that the penitent who is outside may whisper into the priest's ear without being seen by him or heard by others.

usly, to consider so. Shak. She wished she had taken a moment to consider, before rushing down stairs. W. Black

A clear soup or bouillion boiled down so as to be very rich.

, combined with amaxement; dismay. The chiefs around, In silence wrapped, in onsternation downed. Attend the stern reply. Pope.