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Lodestone; magnet. [Obs.] "A great adamant of acquaintance." Bacon. As true to thee as steel to adamant. Greene.

first step towards the attainment of a result; approach made to gain favor, to form an acquaintance, to adjust a difference, etc.; an overture; a tender; an offer; -- usually in the plural. [He] made the like advances to the dissenters. Swift.

Companionship; acquaintance. [Obs.] About forty years past, I began a happy affinity with William Cranmer. Burton.

affright our souls. Shak. A drear and dying sound Affrights the flamens at their service quaint. Milton.

- opposed to recent or new; as, the ancient continent. A friend, perhaps, or an ancient acquaintance. Barrow.

is presented to the mind; an intense degree of surprise; amazement. Lest the place And my quaint habits breed astonishment. Milton.

More advanced; more perfect; as, upon better acquaintance; a better knowledge of the subject. All the better. See under All, adv. -- Better half, an expression used to designate one's wife. My dear, my better half (said he), I find I must now leave thee. Sir P. Sidney. -- To be better off, to be in a better condition.…

alty; a board of trade; a board of directors, trustees, commissioners, etc. Both better acquainted with affairs than any other who sat then at that board. Clarendon. We may judge from their letters to the board. Porteus.

Given to reading; fond of study; better acquainted with books than with men; learned from books. "A bookish man." Addison. "Bookish skill." Bp. Hall.

; to originate; to produce; as, to breed a storm; to breed disease. Lest the place And my quaint habits breed astonishment. Milton.

ion of society; a coterie; a set. As his name gradually became known, the circle of his acquaintance widened. Macaulay.

zzling question, of which the answer is or involves a pun. Or pun ambiguous, or conundrum quaint. J. Philips.

The state or quality of being conversant; habit of familiarity; familiar acquaintance; intimacy. [R.]

Having frequent or customary intercourse; familiary associated; intimately acquainted. I have been conversant with the first persons of the age. Dryden.

Familiar intercourse; intimate fellowship or association; close acquaintance. "Conversation with the best company." Dryden. I set down, out of long experience in business and much conversation in books, what I thought pertinent to this business. Bacon.

Acquainted with manners and deportment; behaved. [Obs.] Till she be better conversationed, . . . I'll keep As far from her as the gallows. Beau. & Fl.

; strange; rare. "Acurious tale" Shak. A multitude of curious analogies. Mocaulay. Many a quaint and curiousvolume of forgotten lore. E. A. Poe. Abstruse investigations in recondite branches of learning or sciense often bring to light curious results. C. J. Smith. Curious arts, magic. [Obs.] Many . . . which used curio…

Familiar aquaintance; familiarity. [Obs.] Age can not wither her, nor custom stale Her infinite variety. Shak. Custom of merchants, a system or code of customs by which affairs of commerce are regulated. -- General customs, those which extend over a state or kingdom. -- Particular customs, those which are limited to…

To refuse to recognize; to ignorre; as, to cut a person in the street; to cut one's acquaintance. [Colloq.]

owell. A fiery deluge fed With ever-burning sulphur unconsumed. Milton. As I grub up some quaint old fragment of a [London] street, or a house, or a shop, or tomb or burial ground, which has still survived in the deluge. F. Harrison. After me the deluge. (Aprés moi le déluge.) Madame de Pompadour.