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Cause of misery; calamity; misfortune. When we our betters see bearing our woes, We scarcely think our miseries our foes. Shak.

Bad fortune or luck; calamity; an evil accident; disaster; mishap; mischance. Consider why the change was wrought, You 'll find his misfortune, not his fault. Addison.

hole people or race; public; general; as, a national government, language, dress, custom, calamity, etc.

; uncomplaining endurance of evils or wrongs, as toil, pain, poverty, insult, oppression, calamity, etc. Strenthened with all might, . . . unto all patience and long- suffering. Col. i. 11. I must have patience to endure the load. Shak. Who hath learned lowliness From his Lord's cradle, patience from his cross. Keble.…

That which smites, wounds, or troubles; a blow; a calamity; any afflictive evil or torment; a great trail or vexation. Shak. And men blasphemed God for the plague of hail. Wyclif. The different plague of each calamity. Shak.

That which portends, or foretoken; esp., that which portends evil; a sign of coming calamity; an omen; a sign. Shak. My loss by dire portents the god foretold. Dryden.

That which shelters or protects from danger, or from distress or calamity; a stronghold which protects by its strength, or a sanctuary which secures safety by its sacredness; a place inaccessible to an enemy. The high hills are a refuger the wild goats. Ps. civ. 18. The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed. Ps.…

rates." Shak. In never ridded myself of an overmastering and brooding sense of some great calamity traveling toward me. De Quincey.

The act of saving; preservation or deliverance from destruction, danger, or great calamity.

As when heaven's fire Hath scathed the forest oaks or mountain pines. Milton. Strokes of calamity that scathe and scorch the soul. W. Irwing.

measure, extent, or time; as, to shorten distance; to shorten a road; to shorten days of calamity.

. . . Gives signal of a goodly day to-morrow. Shak. There was not the least signal of the calamity to be seen. De Foc.

or bear; to press or weigh; -- with on; as, a weight or burden sits lightly upon him. The calamity sits heavy on us. Jer. Taylor.

To cheer in grief or under calamity; to comfort; to relieve in affliction, solitude, or discomfort; to console; -- applied to persons; as, to solace one with the hope of future reward.

Severe; afflictive; distressing; as, a sore disease; sore evil or calamity. Shak.

ait betwixt two. Phil. i. 23. Let no man, who owns a Providence, grow desperate under any calamity or strait whatsoever. South. Ulysses made use of the pretense of natural infirmity to conceal the straits he was in at that time in his thoughts. Broome.

udden attack of disease; especially, a fatal attack; a severe disaster; any affliction or calamity, especially a sudden one; as, a stroke of apoplexy; the stroke of death. At this one stroke the man looked dead in law. Harte.

Mischief; injury; calamity. [Obs.] That had them long opprest with tort. Spenser.

The state of being troubled; disturbance; agitation; uneasiness; vexation; calamity. Lest the fiend . . . some new trouble raise. Milton. Foul whisperings are abroad; unnatural deeds Do breed unnatural troubles. Shak.

Misfortune; calamity; sickness. [Obs.] Chaucer.