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In comfortable circumstances as regards property; forehanded. Rich and much beforehand. Bacon.

ruth of, upon evidence furnished by reasons, arguments, and deductions of the mind, or by circumstances other than personal knowledge; to regard or accept as true; to place confidence in; to think; to consider; as, to believe a person, a statement, or a doctrine. Our conqueror (whom I now Of force believe almighty). Mi…

At best, in the utmost degree or extent applicable to the case; under the most favorable circumstances; as, life is at best very short. -- For best, finally. [Obs.] "Those constitutions . . . are now established for best, and not to be mended." Milton. -- To get the best of, to gain an advantage over, whether fairly…

To put in a certain situation or condition; to circumstance; to place. [Only in p. p.] They shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry: . . . and curse their king and their God. Is. viii. 21. Many far worse bestead than ourselves. Barrow.

se the good qualities of. Love betters what is best. Wordsworth. He thought to better his circumstances. Thackeray.

The whale; -- so called by seamen, from the circumstance of its spouting up a column of water.

; inflated; big without meaning; magniloquent; bombastic. [He] evades them with a bombast circumstance, Horribly stuffed with epithets of war. Shak. Nor a tall metaphor in bombast way. Cowley.

a vessel) on the other tack by veering her short round on her heel; -- so called from the circumstance of bracing the head yards abox (i. e., sharp aback, on the wind). Totten.

ging their demands or resisting the claims of others, and may be good or bad according to circumstances; as, a combiniation of workmen or of employers to effect or to prevent a chang in prices. A cabal is a secret association of a few individuals who seek by cunning practices to obtain office and power. A faction is a…

To ascertain or predict by mathematical or astrological computations the time, circumstances, or other conditions of; to forecast or compute the character or consequences of; as, to calculate or cast one's nativity. A cunning man did calculate my birth. Shak.

A requirement or appeal arising from the circumstances of the case; a moral requirement or appeal. Dependence is a perpetual call upon hummanity. Addison. Running into danger without any call of duty. Macaulay.

Outward condition or circumstances; occupation; profession; character; position; as, to work in the capacity of a mason or a carpenter.

That which befalls, comes, or happens; an event; an instance; a circumstance, or all the circumstamces; condition; state of things; affair; as, a strange case; a case of injustice; the case of the Indian tribes. In any case thou shalt deliver him the pledge. Deut. xxiv. 13. If the case of the man be so with his wife. M…

An event; an occurrence; an occasion; a combination of circumstances; a case; an act of God. See the Note under Accident. Casus belli, an event or combination of events which is a cause war, or may be alleged as a justification of war. -- Casus fortuitus, an accident against which due prudence could not have provided.…

Appearing different, as in color, in different lights, or under different circumstances; as, changeable silk.

Diversified or variegated in a marked manner, as in appearance, character, circumstances, etc. This checkered narrative. Macaulay.

Attention to all the facts and circumstances of a case; caution; watchfulness. With silent circumspection, unespied. Milton.

Consisting in, or pertaining to, circumstances or particular incidents. The usual character of human testimony is substantial truth under circumstantial variety. Paley.

In respect to circumstances; not essentially; accidentally. Of the fancy and intellect, the powers are only circumstantially different. Glanvill.

To place in particular circumstances; to invest with particular accidents or adjuncts. [R.] If the act were otherwise circumstantiated, it might will that freely which now it wills reluctantly. Bramhall.