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To free from impediment or incumbrance, from defilement, or from anything injurious, useless, or offensive; as, to clear land of trees or brushwood, or from stones; to clear the sight or the voice; to clear one's self from debt; -- often used with of, off, away, or out. Clear your mind of cant. Dr. Johnson. A statue li…

led also sword lily. -- Corn fly. (Zoöl.) (a) A small fly which, in the larval state, is injurious to grain, living in the stalk, and causing the disease called "gout," on account of the swelled joints. The common European species is Chlorops tæniopus. (b) A small fly (Anthomyia ze) whose larva or maggot destroys seed…

ounteract the qualities of one thing by those of another; -- said of whatever is wrong or injurious; as, to correct the acidity of the stomach by alkaline preparations.

That which has the power of correcting, altering, or counteracting what is wrong or injurious; as, alkalies are correctives of acids; penalties are correctives of immoral conduct. Burke.

To set free from (something injurious or blameworthy), as from a bad habit. I never knew any man cured of inattention. Swift.

ant worm (Zoöl.), an insect larva which eats the leaves or fruit of the currant. The most injurious are the currant sawfly (Nematus ventricosus), introduced from Europe, and the spanworm (Eufitchia ribearia). The fruit worms are the larva of a fly (Epochra Canadensis), and a spanworm (Eupithecia). -- Flowering currant…

Procuring or causing loss; mischievous; injurious.

Containing defamation; injurious to reputation; calumnious; slanderous; as, defamatory words; defamatory writings.

Tending to derogate, or lessen in value; expressing derogation; detracting; injurious; -- with from to, or unto. Acts of Parliament derogatory from the power of subsequent Parliaments bind not. Blackstone. His language was severely censured by some of his brother peers as derogatory to their other. Macaulay. Derogatory…

Causing detriment; injurious; hurtful. Neither dangerous nor detrimental to the donor. Addison.

The quality of being detrimental; injuriousness.

Injurious; disadvantageous. [Obs.] Bacon.

Not creditable; injurious to reputation; disgraceful; disreputable. -- Dis*cred"it*a*bly, adv.

Matching any one in marriage under his or her degree; injurious union with something of inferior excellence; a lowering in rank or estimation. [Eng.] And thought that match a foul disparagement. Spenser.

Calculated to do disservice or harm; not serviceable; injurious; harmful; unserviceable. Shaftesbury. -- Dis*serv"ice*a*ble*ness, n. Norris. -- Dis*serv"ice*a*bly, adv.

To tincture with something offensive or injurious. Drugged as oft, With hatefullest disrelish writhed their jaws. Milton.

A genus of small beetles, one species of which (E. viti) is very injurious to the vines in the wine countries of Europe.

In an evil manner; not well; ill; badly; unhappily; injuriously; unkindly. Shak. It went evil with his house. 1 Chron. vii. 23. The Egyptians evil entreated us, and affected us. Deut. xxvi. 6.

A genus of small beetles, of which one species (the grapevine Fidia, F. longipes) is very injurious to vines in America.

the fig fauns." Jer. i. 39. (Douay version). -- Fig gnat (Zoöl.), a small fly said to be injurious to figs. -- Fig leaf, the leaf tree; hence, in allusion to the first clothing of Adam and Eve (Genesis iii.7), a covering for a thing that ought to be concealed; esp., an inadequate covering; a symbol for affected modes…