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A coming together; a meeting. [Obs.] A usual ceremony at their [the witches] convents or meetings. B. Jonson.

he kness. [Written also curtsy.] The lady drops a courtesy in token of obedience, and the ceremony proceeds as usual. Golgsmith.

The chief or senior of a company on occasion of ceremony; as, the dean of the diplomatic corps; -- so called by courtesy. Cardinal dean, the senior cardinal bishop of the college of cardinals at Rome. Shipley. -- Dean and chapter, the legal corporation and governing body of a cathedral. It consists of the dean, who is…

ty of form in social intercourse, in actions, or in discourse; proper formality; becoming ceremony; seemliness; hence, freedom from obscenity or indecorum; modesty. Observances of time, place, and of decency in general. Burke. Immodest words admit of no defense, For want of decency is want of sense. Roscommon.…

Suitable in words, behavior, dress, or ceremony; becoming; fit; decorous; proper; seemly; as, decent conduct; decent language. Shak. Before his decent steps. Milton.

d (Cath. Dict. ) To dispense with. (a) To permit the neglect or omission of, as a form, a ceremony, an oath; to suspend the operation of, as a law; to give up, release, or do without, as services, attention, etc.; to forego; to part with. (b) To allow by dispensation; to excuse; to exempt; to grant dispensation to or f…

In plain terms; without ceremony. We shall chide downright, id I longer stay. Shak.

ct from the frock coat, of which the skirts surround the body. It is worn on occasions of ceremony. The dress coat of officers of the United States army is a full-skirted frock coat.

ural, betrothal; plighting of the troths; a contract of marriage; sometimes, the marriage ceremony.

The sacrament of the Lord's Supper; the solemn act of ceremony of commemorating the death of Christ, in the use of bread and wine, as the appointed emblems; the communion. -- See Sacrament.

The performance of an office, a ceremony, or a religious duty. Lewis refused even those of the church of England . . . the public exercise of their religion. Addison. To draw him from his holy exercise. Shak.

Outward or external deportment, form, or ceremony; visible act; as, the exteriors of religion.

; intimate and frequent converse, or association; unconstrained intercourse; freedom from ceremony and constraint; intimacy; as, to live in remarkable familiarity.

Superiority; advantage; start; precedence. And, but for ceremony, such a wretch . . . Had the forehand and vantage of a king. Shak.

Show without substance; empty, outside appearance; vain, trivial, or conventional ceremony; conventionality; formality; as, a matter of mere form. Though well we may not pass upon his life Without the form of justice. Shak.

Compliance with formal or conventional rules; ceremony; conventionality. Nor was his attendance on divine offices a matter of formality and custom, but of conscience. Atterbury.

Full dress, the dress prescribed by authority or by etiquette to be worn on occasions of ceremony. -- Full hand (Poker), three of a kind and a pair. -- Full moon. (a) The moon with its whole disk illuminated, as when opposite to the sun. (b) The time when the moon is full. -- Full organ (Mus.), the organ when all o…

ad human body, whether such disposition be by interment, burning, or otherwise; esp., the ceremony or solemnization of interment; obsequies; burial; -- formerly used in the plural. King James his funerals were performed very solemnly in the collegiate church at Westminster. Euller.

terized by stealth; sly; secret; stealthy; as, a furtive look. Prior. A hasty and furtive ceremony. Hallam.

An action represented in sports, plays, or on the stage; show; ceremony. [Obs.] Mede.