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f, to gain an advantage over, whether fairly or unfairly. -- To make the best of. (a) To improve to the utmost; to use or dispose of to the greatest advantage. "Let there be freedom to carry their commodities where they can make the best of them." Bacon. (b) To reduce to the least possible inconvenience; as, to make t…

Improved in health; less affected with disease; as, the patient is better.

A making better; amendment; improvement. W. Montagu.

To improve or relieve by dispelling gloom or removing that which obscures and darkens; to shed light upon; to make cheerful; as, to brighten one's prospects. An ecstasy, which mothers only feel, Plays round my heart and brightens all my sorrow. Philips.

ng motion. -- To brush up, to paint, or make clean or bright with a brush; to cleanse or improve; to renew. You have commissioned me to paint your shop, and I have done my best to brush you up like your neighbors. Pope.

To perfect or improve by fire or heat; to submit to the action of fire or heat for some economic purpose; to destroy or change some property or properties of, by exposure to fire or heat in due degree for obtaining a desired residuum, product, or effect; to bake; as, to burn clay in making bricks or pottery; to burn wo…

n astronomer. Calippic period, a period of seventy-six years, proposed by Calippus, as an improvement on the Metonic cycle, since the 6940 days of the Metonic cycle exceeded 19 years by about a quarter of a day, and exceeded 235 lunations by something more.

Capacity of being used or improved.

A castrated cock, esp. when fattened; a male chicken gelded to improve his flesh for the table. Shak. The merry thought of a capon. W. Irving.

A kind of breechloading, center-fire rifle, or improved needle gun.

d, a board or screen used to close a fireplace; a fireboard. -- Chimney cap, a device to improve the draught of a chimney, by presenting an exit aperture always to leeward. -- Chimney corner, the space between the sides of the fireplace and the fire; hence, the fireside. -- Chimney hook, a hook for holding pats and…

ween pieces of metal or other conductors loosely resting against each other is materially improved in conductivity by the influence of Hertzian waves; -- so called by Sir O. J. Lodge in 1894 on the assumption that the impact of the electic waves caused the loosely connected parts to cohere, or weld together, a conditio…

Any external application intended to beautify and improve the complexion.

A cowl-shaped cap, commonly turning with the wind, used to improve the draft of a chimney, ventilatingshaft, etc.

A company licensed for the purpose of carrying out improvements, by means of loans and advances upon real securities. ]

To improve by labor, care, or study; to impart culture to; to civilize; to refine. To cultivate the wild, licentious savage. Addison. The mind of man hath need to be prepared for piety and virtue; it must be cultivated to the end. Tillotson.

The art or act of cultivating; improvement for agricultural purposes or by agricultural processes; tillage; production by tillage.

The state of being cultivated; result of cultivation; physical improvement; enlightenment and discipline acquired by mental and moral training; civilization; refinement in manners and taste. What the Greeks expressed by their humanitas, we less happily try to express by the more artificial word culture. J. C. Shairp. T…

od of 76 years, or four Metonic cycles; -- so called from Calippus, who proposed it as an improvement on the Metonic cycle. -- Cycle of eclipses, a priod of about 6,586 days, the time of revolution of the moon's node; -- called Saros by the Chaldeans. -- Cycle of indiction, a period of 15 years, employed in Roman and…

discourage. "To damp your tender hopes." Akenside. Usury dulls and damps all industries, improvements, and new inventions, wherein money would be stirring if it were not for this slug. Bacon. How many a day has been damped and darkened by an angry word! Sir J. Lubbock. The failure of his enterprise damped the spirit o…