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The act of turning into allegory, or of understanding in an allegorical sense.

Grant all this; be it that; supposing that; notwithstanding; though. Although all shall be offended, yet will no I. Mark xiv. 29.

Imbecility; total want of understanding.

general sense, between individuals, societies, or nations; friendly relations; good understanding; as, a treaty of amity and commerce; the amity of the Whigs and Tories. To live on terms of amity with vice. Cowper.

Old; that has been of long duration; of long standing; of great age; as, an ancient forest; an ancient castle. "Our ancient bickerings." Shak. Remove not the ancient landmarks, which thy fathers have set. Prov. xxii. 28. An ancient man, strangely habited, asked for quarters. Scott.

A prerequisite to a clear understanding of the predicaments and categories, such as definitions of common terms. Chambers.

Standing before a petal, as a stamen.

Standing before a sepal, or calyx leaf.

A person of consideration or standing. [Colloq.] All the men belonged exclusively to the mechanical and shopkeeping classes, and there was not a single banker or anybody in the list. Lond. Sat. Rev.

The quality of standing apart.

Clear or manifest to the understanding; plain; evident; obvious; known; palpable; indubitable. It is apparent foul play. Shak.

To take hold of with the understanding, that is, to conceive in the mind; to become cognizant of; to understand; to recognize; to consider. This suspicion of Earl Reimund, though at first but a buzz, soon got a sting in the king's head, and he violently apprehended it. Fuller. The eternal laws, such as the heroic age a…

The faculty by which ideas are conceived; understanding; as, a man of dull apprehension.

A barrister, considered a learner of law till of sixteen years' standing, when he might be called to the rank of serjeant. [Obs.] Blackstone.

A great number; a vast multitude; a host. An army of good words. Shak. Standing army, a permanent army of professional soldiers, as distinguished from militia or volunteers.

Near; in the neighborhood; as, this man was standing around when the fight took place. [Colloq. U. S.]

at the moment of death; in the dying struggle. -- Lords of the articles (Scot. Hist.), a standing committee of the Scottish Parliament to whom was intrusted the drafting and preparation of the acts, or bills for laws. -- The Thirty-nine Articles, statements (thirty-nine in number) of the tenets held by the Church of…

ll, also; too; besides. Addison. -- As well as, equally with, no less than. "I have understanding as well as you." Job xii. 3. -- As yet, until now; up to or at the present time; still; now.

nation; power. An undisputed ascendency. Macaulay. Custom has an ascendency over the understanding. Watts.

ally connected with another; an concomitant. The one [idea] no sooner comes into the understanding, than its associate appears with it. Locke.