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nt; to be in uncertainty as to belief respecting anything; to hesitate in belief; to be undecided as to the truth of the negative or the affirmative proposition; to b e undetermined. Even in matters divine, concerning some things, we may lawfully doubt, and suspend our judgment. Hooker. To try your love and make you do…

Admitting of doubt; not obvious, clear, or certain; questionable; not decided; not easy to be defined, classed, or named; as, a doubtful case, hue, claim, title, species, and the like. Beauty is but a vain and doubtful good. Shak. Is it a great cruelty to expel from our abode the enemy of our peace, or even the doubtfu…

Having the power to produce an effect or effects; producing a decided or decisive effect; efficient; serviceable; operative; as, an effective force, remedy, speech; the effective men in a regiment. They are not effective of anything, nor leave no work behind them. Bacon. Whosoever is an effective, real cause of doing h…

structions of a judge in the trial of a cause, made for the purpose of putting the points decided on record so as to bring them before a superior court or the full bench for review.

ends; -- called also snake fence, or Virginia rail fence. -- To be on the fence, to be undecided or uncommitted in respect to two opposing parties or policies. [Colloq.]

Difficult, mentally or judicially; not easily apprehended, decided, or resolved; as a hard problem. The hard causes they brought unto Moses. Ex. xviii. 26. In which are some things hard to be understood. 2 Peter iii. 16.

d nine are sometimes called Dutch honors. R. A. Proctor. Affair of honor, a dispute to be decided by a duel, or the duel itself. -- Court of honor, a court or tribunal to investigate and decide questions relating to points of honor; as a court of chivalry, or a military court to investigate acts or omissions which are…

Not resolute; not decided or determined; wavering; given to doubt or irresolution. Weak and irresolute is man. Cowper.

of gulls and force them to disgorge their prey. The two middle tail feathers are usually decidedly longer than the rest. Called also boatswain, and marline-spike bird. The name is also applied to the skua, or Arctic gull (Megalestris skua).

Capable of being judged; capable of being tried or decided upon. Jer. Taylor.

open gallery. It differs from a veranda in being more architectural, and in forming more decidedly a part of the main edifice to which it is attached; from a porch, in being intended not for entrance but for an out-of-door sitting-room.

Having the anterior part of the head differing decidedly in color from the rest of the plumage; -- said of birds. Masked ball, a ball in which the dancers wear masks. -- Masked battery (Mil.), a battery so placed as not to be seen by an enemy until it opens fire. H. L. Scott. -- Masked crab (Zoöl.), a European crab (…

Subject, or open, to argument or discussion; undecided; debatable; mooted.

or denying party; the relation or position of denial or opposition; as, the question was decided in the negative.

Neither good nor bad; of medium quality; middling; not decided or pronounced. Some things good, and some things ill, do seem, And neutral some, in her fantastic eye. Sir J. Davies.

Not settled or adjusted; not decided or determined; not closed or withdrawn from consideration; as, an open account; an open question; to keep an offer or opportunity open.

The fit, attack, or exacerbation, of a disease that occurs at intervals, or has decided remissions or intermissions. Arbuthnot.

Inclination; decided taste; bias; as, a penchant for art.

To be undecided, or in process of adjustment.

The quality or state of being undecided, or in continuance; suspense; as, the pendency of a suit. Ayliffe.