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nce admits justification. I hope, for my brother's justification, he wrote this but as an essay or taste of my virtue. Shak.

The class of writings distinguished for beauty of style or expression, as poetry, essays, or history, in distinction from scientific treatises and works which contain positive knowledge; belles-lettres.

An account of something deemed noteworthy; an essay; a record of investigations of any subject; the journals and proceedings of a society.

One who moralizes; one who teaches or animadverts upon the duties of life; a writer of essays intended to correct vice and inculcate moral duties. Addison.

A sentence, phrase, or word, prefixed to an essay, discourse, chapter, canto, or the like, suggestive of its subject matter; a short, suggestive expression of a guiding principle; a maxim. It was the motto of a bishop eminent for his piety and good works, ... "Serve God, and be cheerful." Addison.

Joannes Sturmius. Ascham. Patients have sometimes coveted odd things. Arbuthnot. Locke's Essay would be a very odd book for a man to make himself master of, who would get a reputation by critical writings. Spectator.

To make an attempt; to make an essay or a trial; -- used with at. "Without offering at any other remedy." Swift. He would be offering at the shepherd's voice. L'Estrange. I will not offer at that I can not master. Bacon.

d by oratory; rhetorical; becoming to an orator; as, an oratorical triumph; an oratorical essay. -- Or`a*tor"ic*al*ly, adv.

Material of inferior value, serving to extend a book, essay, etc. London Sat. Rev.

ets of printed paper, stitched together, often with a paper cover, but not bound; a short essay or written discussion, usually on a subject of current interest.

A printed or written instrument; a document, essay, or the like; a writing; as, a paper read before a scientific society. They brought a paper to me to be signed. Dryden.

aining, or involving, controversy; controversial; disputative; as, a polemic discourse or essay; polemic theology.

Something spoken as introductory to a discourse, or written as introductory to a book or essay; a proem; an introduction, or series of preliminary remarks. This superficial tale Is but a preface of her worthy praise. Shak. Heaven's high behest no preface needs. Milton.

Pertaining to, or of the nature of, a preface; introductory to a book, essay, or discourse; as, prefatory remarks. That prefatory addition to the Creed. Dryden.

To essay or attempt of one's own accord; to undertake, or propose to undertake. [R.] Milton.

A trial before the principal performance; a prelude; hence, an introductory essay or exercise. "Domestic prolusions." Thackeray. Her presence was in some measure a restraint on the worthy divine, whose prolusion lasted. Sir W. Scott.

To make trial; to essay.

seless material; to shape or smooth by trimming; to trim: as, to prune trees; to prune an essay. Thackeray. Taking into consideration how they [laws] are to be pruned and reformed. Bacon. Our delightful task To prune these growing plants, and tend these flowers. Milton.

A word occurring in a corrupt passage of Bacon's Essays, and probably meaning, to stir, to move.

To repeat, as the principal points in a discourse, argument, or essay; to give a summary of the principal facts, points, or arguments of; to relate in brief; to summarize.