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unusual fall in temperature, to or below the freezing point, exceeding 16º in twenty-four hours or 20º in thirty-six hours, independent of the diurnal range.

The last division of the Roman Catholic breviary; the seventh and last of the canonical hours of the Western church; the last prayer of the day, to be said after sunset. The custom of godly man been to shut up the evening with a compline of prayer at nine of the night. Hammond.

To consider or think studiously; to ponder; to reflect; to muse; to meditate. So many hours must I contemplate. Shak.

thread by means of a needle; to sew together with yarn or thread. He spent every day ten hours in his closet, in darning his stockins. Swift. Darning last. See under Last. -- Darning needle. (a) A long, strong needle for mending holes or rents, especially in stockings. (b) (Zoöl.) Any species of dragon fly, having a…

The period of the earth's revolution on its axis. -- ordinarily divided into twenty-four hours. It is measured by the interval between two successive transits of a celestial body over the same meridian, and takes a specific name from that of the body. Thus, if this is the sun, the day (the interval between two success…

The bed in which a person dies; hence, the closing hours of life of one who dies by sickness or the like; the last sickness. That often-quoted passage from Lord Hervey in which the Queen's deathbed is described. Thackeray.

To bring to an end; to determine. See Determine. [Obs.] The sly, slow hours shall not determinate The dateless limit of thy dear exile. Shak.

To measure with a dial. Hours of that true time which is dialed in heaven. Talfourd.

An attachment to a clock by which the quarter hours are struck upon bells of different tones.

, etc., are squandered in pursuit of pleasure; profuseness in vicious indulgence, as late hours, riotous living, etc.; dissoluteness. To reclaim the spendthrift from his dissipation and extravagance. P. Henry.

ht, distinguished from the night; -- opposed to Ant: nocturnal; as, diurnal heat; diurnal hours.

A half watch; a watch of two hours, of which there are two, the first dogwatch from 4 to 6 o'clock, p.m., and the second dogwatch from 6 to 8 o'clock, P. M. Totten.

garies; as, to dream away an hour; to dream through life. " Why does Antony dream out his hours" Dryden.

Disposing to sleep; lulling; soporific. The drowsy hours, dispensers of all good. Tennyson.

drum; drum music. Whose morning drumbeat, following the sun, and keeping company with the hours, circles the earth with one continuous and unbroken strain of the martial airs of England. D. Webster.

return or fall back from a better to a worse state; to decline; to decay; to recede. The hours of life ebb fast. Blackmore.

The place where the merchants, brokers, and bankers of a city meet at certain hours, to transact business. In this sense often contracted to 'Change. Arbitration of exchange. See under Arbitration. -- Bill of exchange. See under Bill. -- Exchange broker. See under Broker. -- Par of exchange, the established value of…

t; poof. A political experiment can not be made in a laboratory, not determinant in a few hours. J. Adams.

erary; also, extraordinarily good; superior; as, extra work; extra pay. "By working extra hours." H. Spencer.

t as a feather; to give wings to.[R.] The Polonian story perhaps may feather some tedions hours. Loveday.