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An almost impenetrable thicket or succession of thickets of thorny shrubs and brambles. Chaparral cock; fem. Chaparral hen (Zoöl.), a bird of the cuckoo family (Geococcyx Californianus), noted for running with great speed. It ranges from California to Mexico and eastward to Texas; -- called also road runner, ground cuc…

The dough, or mass of doughy paste, cooked with a potpie; -- also called dumpling. Th' impenetrable crust thy teeth defies. Dryden. He that keeps nor crust nor crumb. Shak. They . . . made the crust for the venison pasty. Macualay.

To impend. [Obs.] Shak.

Great fear in view of impending evil; fearful apprehension of danger; anticipatory terror. The secret dread of divine displeasure. Tillotson. The dread of something after death. Shak.

To free from an impending obligation or duty; hence, to disengage; to dispense with; to release by favor; also, to remit by favor; not to exact; as, to excuse a forfeiture. I pray thee have me excused. xiv. 19.

A painful emotion or passion excited by the expectation of evil, or the apprehension of impending danger; apprehension; anxiety; solicitude; alarm; dread.

To hover; to impend; to appear threateningly; -- usually with over; as, evils hang over the country.

That which is imminent; impending evil or danger. "But dare all imminence." Shak.

Threatening to occur immediately; near at hand; impending; -- said especially of misfortune or peril. "In danger imminent." Spenser.

se, as with pales or stakes; to surround. Impale him with your weapons round about. Shak. Impenetrable, impaled with circling fire. Milton.

Not permeable; not permitting passage, as of a fluid. through its substance; impervious; impenetrable; as, India rubber is impermeable to water and to air. -- Im*per"me*a*ble*ness, n. -- Im*per"me*a*bly, adv.

Not capable of being pierced; impenetrable. [Obs.] Spenser.

Closely pressing or impending in respect to time; not deferred; immediate; without delay. Impending death is thine, and instant doom. Prior.

Like iron in hardness, strength, impenetrability, power of endurance, insensibility, etc.; as:

Want of repentance; impenitence. Bp. Montagu.

A dense growth of brushwood, grasses, reeds, vines, etc.; an almost impenetrable thicket of trees, canes, and reedy vegetation, as in India, Africa, Australia, and Brazil. The jungles of India are of bamboos, canes, and other palms, very difficult to penetrate. Balfour (Cyc. of India). Jungle bear (Zoöl.), the aswail o…

To hang over like a brow; to impend over. [Poetic] Longfellow. Did with a huge projection overbrow Large space beneath. Wordsworth.

To impend or hang over. [R.] Beau. & Fl.

To project or impend over threateningly. His louering brows o'erwhelming his fair sight. Shak.

Having no beaten path or way; untrodden; impenetrable; as, pathless woods. Trough the heavens' wide, pathless way. Milton.