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To adopt the character or belief of a Christian; to become Christian. The pagans began to Christianize. Latham.

A character in general, as a figure or letter. [Obs.] This wisdom began to be written in ciphers and characters and letters bearing the forms of creatures. Sir W. Raleigh.

ng in a circle, or in a course which brings the moving body to the place where its motion began. This continual circulation of human things. Swift.

f blood; a coagulum. "Clots of pory gore." Addison. Doth bake the egg into clots as if it began to poach. Bacon.

lic like a colt; to act licentiously or wantonly. [Obs.] They shook off their bridles and began to colt. Spenser.

Agreement in opinion or sentiment; the being of one mind; accord. All with one consent began to make exuse. Luke xiv. 18. They feil together all, as by consent. Shak.

The state of being despised; disgrace; shame. Contempt and begarry hangs upon thy back. Shaks.

Somewhat cool. The nights began to grow a little coolish. Goldsmith.

. After having been long in indirect communication with the exiled family, he [Atterbury] began to correspond directly with the Pretender. Macualay.

as is appropriate to the time, place, or other circumstances represented or described. I began last night to read Walter Scott's Lay of the Last Minstrel . . . .I was extremely delighted with the poetical beauty of some parts . . . .The costume, too, is admirable. Sir J. Mackintosh.

e raven himself is hoarse, That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan. Shak. Two ravens now began to croak Their nuptial song. Wordsworth.

To utter imprecations or curses; to affirm or deny with imprecations; to swear. Then began he to curse and to swear. Matt. xxi. 74. His spirits hear me, And yet I need must curse. Shak.

re with the text." Atterbury. During the ferst year at Dumfries, Burns for the ferst time began to dabble in politics. J. C. Shairp.

le earth, so that the land was darkened. Ex. x. 15. So spake the Sovran Voice; and clouds began To darken all the hill. Milton.

r begin to appear; as, the day dawns; the morning dawns. In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene . . . to see the sepulcher. Matt. xxviii. 1.

elationship; as, a relation in the third or fourth degree. In the 11th century an opinion began to gain ground in Italy, that third cousins might marry, being in the seventh degree according to the civil law. Hallam.

"Above her drooped a lamp." Tennyson. I saw him ten days before he died, and observed he began very much to droop and languish. Swift.

tied, and plunged into water, as a punishment. See Cucking stool. The practice of ducking began in the latter part of the 15th century, and prevailed until the early part of the 18th, and occasionally as late as the 19th century. Blackstone. Chambers.

right hand of one who faces the north; the point directly opposite to the west. The east began kindle. E. Everett.

impair the moral powers of. A man . . . enervated by licentiousness. Macaulay. And rhyme began t' enervate poetry. Dryden.