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Could; was able; knew or known; understood. [Obs.] Above all other one Daniel He loveth, for he couth well Divine, that none other couth; To him were all thing couth, As he had it of God's grace. Gower.

Lit., for whose benefit; incorrectly understood, it came to be used in the sense, of what good or use; and hence, (what) purpose; object; specif., the ultimate object of life.

portion severed or cut off; a division; as, a cut of beef; a cut of timber. It should be understood, moreover, . . . that the group are not arbitrary cuts, but natural groups or types. Dana.

So separated as not to be confounded with any other thing; not liable to be misunderstood; not confused; well-defined; clear; as, we have a distinct or indistinct view of a prospect. Relation more particular and distinct. Milton.

To make clear; to clear up what is obscure or not understood; to explain.

The clearing up of anything which is obscure or not easily understood; an explanation. The eclaircissement ended in the discovery of the informer. Clarendon.

ccording to elements; literally; as, the words, "Take, eat; this is my body," elementally understood.

Omission; a figure of syntax, by which one or more words, which are obviously understood, are omitted; as, the virtues I admire, for, the virtues which I admire.

A figure of speech by which what is to be understood affirmatively is stated negatively, and the contrary; affirmation by contraries.

Designed for, and understood by, the specially initiated alone; not communicated, or not intelligible, to the general body of followers; private; interior; acroamatic; -- said of the private and more recondite instructions and doctrines of philosophers. Opposed to exoteric. Enough if every age produce two or three crit…

est; and so on; -- used to point out that other things which could be mentioned are to be understood. Usually abbreviated into etc. or &c. (&c). Shak.

Well known; well understood; common; frequent; as, a familiar illustration. That war, or peace, or both at once, may be As things acquainted and familiar to us. Shak. There is nothing more familiar than this. Locke.

To lay down beforehand. These grounds being forelaid and understood. Mede.

e goiter; affected with the goiter; of the nature of goiter or bronchocele. Let me not be understood as insinuating that the inhabitants in general are either goitrous or idiots. W. Coxe.

e hard causes they brought unto Moses. Ex. xviii. 26. In which are some things hard to be understood. 2 Peter iii. 16.

; superior; -- used indefinitely or relatively, and often in figurative senses, which are understood from the connection; as -

ion. [Obs.] How could thou ween, through that disguised hood To hide thy state from being understood Spenser.

t, purpose, use, effect, etc. [Obs. or R.] An enlightened self-interest, which, when well understood, they tell us will identify with an interest more enlarged and public. Burke.

avoid the vexation and impertinence of pedants who affect to talk in a language not to be understood. Swift.

that which is implied, but not expressed; an inference, or something which may fairly be understood, though not expressed in words. Whatever things, therefore, it was asserted that the king might do, it was a necessary implication that there were other things which he could not do. Hallam.