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Sensitive or responsive to moral excellence. Dr. H. More.

Having any sort of superiority or excellence; -- especially such as in conspicuous. [Obs. or Archaic as applied to material things.] Iron is a brave commodity where wood aboundeth. Bacon. It being a brave day, I walked to Whitehall. Pepys.

Of or pertaining to calligraphy. Excellence in the calligraphic act. T. Warton.

One charmed or subdued by beaty, excellence, or affection; one who is captivated.

The quality of being of particular value or worth; nicely; excellence.

A work of acknowledged excellence and authrity, or its author; -- originally used of Greek and Latin works or authors, but now applied to authors and works of a like character in any language. In is once raised him to the rank of a legitimate English classic. Macaulay.

or the climax of earthly good. I. Taylor. To cap the climax, to surpass everything, as in excellence or in absurdity. [Colloq.]

rison; as, his later work does not compare with his earlier. I should compare with him in excellence. Shak.

An assemblage of splendors or excellences. The constellations of genius had already begun to show itself . . . which was to shed a glory over the meridian and close of Philip's reign. Prescott.

opposition, or over against, in order to show the differences between, or the comparative excellences and defects of; to compare by difference or contrariety of qualities; as, to contrast the present with the past.

Of superior excellence; having qualities to be boasted of. [Colloq.] One of our crack speakers in the Commons. Dickens.

An individual of marked ability or excellence, esp. in some sport; as, he is a crackajack at tennis. [Slang]

made chiefly at Damascus, having a variegated appearance of watering, and proverbial for excellence. -- Damascus iron, or Damascus twist, metal formed of thin bars or wires of iron and steel elaborately twisted and welded together; used for making gun barrels, etc., of high quality, in which the surface, when polishe…

To lead away from purity or excellence; to corrupt in character or principles; to mar; to vitiate; to pollute; to seduce; as, to debauch one's self by intemperance; to debauch a woman; to debauch an army. Learning not debauched by ambition. Burke. A man must have got his conscience thoroughly debauched and hardened bef…

Gradual failure of health, strength, soundness, prosperity, or of any species of excellence or perfection; tendency toward dissolution or extinction; corruption; rottenness; decline; deterioration; as, the decay of the body; the decay of virtue; the decay of the Roman empire; a castle in decay. Perhaps my God, though h…

The act or state of falling off or declining from excellence or perfection; deterioration; decay; decline. "The declination of monarchy." Bacon. Summer . . . is not looked on as a time Of declination or decay. Waller.

iminished gradually, in size, degree, number, duration, etc., or in strength, quality, or excellence; as, they days decrease in length from June to December. He must increase, but I must decrease. John iii. 30.

vancement; quality; extent; as, tastes differ in kind as well as in degree. The degree of excellence which proclaims genius, is different in different times and different places. Sir. J. Reynolds.

inds of food or drink; different states of health; different shapes; different degrees of excellence. Men are as different from each other, as the regions in which they are born are different. Dryden.

The state of being worthy or honorable; elevation of mind or character; true worth; excellence.