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ight usually appears in streams, ascending toward the zenith from a dusky line or bank, a few degrees above the northern horizon; when reaching south beyond the zenith, it forms what is called the corona, about a spot in the heavens toward which the dipping needle points. Occasionally the aurora appears as an arch of l…

no more favorable to these studies than the common avocations of women. Richardson. In a few hours, above thirty thousand men left his standard, and returned to their ordinary avocations. Macaulay. An irregularity and instability of purpose, which makes them choose the wandering avocations of a shepherd, rather than t…

Cruel; ferocious; inhuman; merciless. By their barbarous usage he died within a few days, to the grief of all that knew him. Clarendon.

enser. It is quite startling, on going over the beadroll of English worthies, to find how few are directly represented in the male line. Quart. Rev.

Family; relations; household. [Colloq.] Few persons of her ladyship's belongings stopped, before they did her bidding, to ask her reasons. Thackeray.

To happen to; to befall; to come to ; as, woe betide the wanderer. What will betide the few Milton.

ing the under side of the pileus or cap composed of a multitude of fine separate tubes. A few are edible, and others very poisonous.

o any borough which, at the time of the passage of the Reform Bill of 1832, contained but few voters, yet retained the privilege of sending a member to Parliament.

A space with a few seats partitioned off in a theater, or other place of public amusement. Laughed at by the pit, box, galleries, nay, stage. Dorset. The boxes and the pit are sovereign judges. Dryden.

Contraction into few words; conciseness. Brevity is the soul of wit. Shak. This argument is stated by St. John with his usual elegant brevity and simplicity. Bp. Porteus.

A short concise writing or letter; a statement in few words. Bear this sealed brief, With winged hastle, to the lord marshal. Shak. And she told me In a sweet, verbal brief. Shak.

Concisely; in few words.

A printed and stitched book containing only a few leaves; a pamphlet.

y a foreigner; as, broken English; imperfectly spoken on account of emotion; as, to say a few broken words at parting. Amidst the broken words and loud weeping of those grave senators. Macaulay. Broken ground. (a) (Mil.) Rough or uneven ground; as, the troops were retarded in their advance by broken ground. (b) Ground…

nks, physicians, lawers, professors of religion, etc. "A brother of your order." Shak. We few, we happy few, we band of brothers, For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother. Shak.

To murder by suffocation, or so as to produce few marks of violence, for the purpose of obtaining a body to be sold for dissection.

te views and interests in church or state by intrigue; a secret association composed of a few designing persons; a junto.

A popular name given to a few species of the genus Careopsis, especially to C. tinctoria of Arkansas.

n Roman Gatholic countries during the week before Lent, esp. at Rome and Naples, during a few days (three to ten) before Lent, ending with Shrove Tuesday. The carnival at Venice is everywhere talked of. Addison.

A receptacle, as in a dining room, for a few bottles of wine or liquor, made in the form of a chest or coffer, or a deep drawer in a sideboard, and usually lined with metal.