Search the Dictionary

Sharpness; readiness of fitness to cut; keenness; intenseness of desire. The full edge of our indignation. Sir W. Scott. Death and persecution lose all the ill that they can have, if we do not set an edge upon them by our fears and by our vices. Jer. Taylor.

In a skillful or dexterous manner; adroitly; with readiness and accuracy.

Skill derived from practice; readiness; as, expertness in seamanship, or in reasoning.

Ease in performance; readiness proceeding from skill or use; dexterity; as, practice gives a wonderful facility in executing works of art.

Eloquence; readiness of speech. [Archaic]

roductiveness; fecundity; richness; abundance of resources; fertile invention; quickness; readiness; as, the fertility of soil, or of imagination. "fertility of resource." E. Everett. And all her husbandry doth lie on heaps Corrupting in its own fertility. Shak. Thy very weeds are beautiful; thy waste More rich than ot…

fit or suitable; to adapt to the purpose intended; to qualify; to put into a condition of readiness or preparation. The time is fitted for the duty. Burke. The very situation for which he was peculiarly fitted by nature. Macaulay.

The quality of being fluent; smoothness; readiness of utterance; volubility. The art of expressing with fluency and perspicuity. Macaulay.

The quality or characteristics of a flunky; readiness to cringe to those who are superior in wealth or position; toadyism. Thackeray.

-- To the fore. (a) In advance; to the front; to a prominent position; in plain sight; in readiness for use. (b) In existence; alive; not worn out, lost, or spent, as money, etc. [Irish] "While I am to the fore." W. Collins. "How many captains in the regiment had two thousand pounds to the fore" Thackeray.…

The quality of being forward; cheerful readiness; promtness; as, the forwardness of Christians in propagating the gospel.

Renewed in vigor, alacrity, or readiness for action; as, fresh for a combat; hence, tending to renew in vigor; rather strong; cool or brisk; as, a fresh wind.

ave, or get, the better of another person or thing. -- To his hand, To my hand, etc., in readiness; already prepared. "The work is made to his hands." Locke. -- To hold hand, to compete successfully or on even conditions. [Obs.] Shak. -- To lay hands on, to seize; to assault. -- To lend a hand, to give assistance.…

Want of dexterity or readiness, especially in the use of the hands; clumsiness; awkwardness. Harvey.

The capacity to know or understand; readiness of comprehension; the intellect, as a gift or an endowment. And dimmed with darkness their intelligence. Spenser.

the quality or value of anything; one who discerns properties or relations with skill and readiness; a connoisseur; an expert; a critic. A man who is no judge of law may be a good judge of poetry, or eloquence, or of the merits of a painting. Dryden.

A readiness in performance; aptness at doing something; skill; facility; dexterity. The fellow . . . has not the knack with his shears. B. Jonson. The dean was famous in his time, And had a kind of knack at rhyme. Swift.

The keeping of horses in readiness to be hired temporarily for riding or driving; the state of being so kept. Pegasus does not stand at livery even at the largest establishment in Moorfields. Lowell.

or womanish; manlike, esp. brave, courageous, resolute, noble. Let's briefly put on manly readiness. Shak. Serene and manly, hardened to sustain The load of life. Dryden.

To put in a state of readiness for active service in war, as an army corps.