Search the Dictionary

unfortunate; calamitous; ill-fated; as, a disastrous day; a disastrous termination of an undertaking. Wherein I spake of most disastrous chances. Shak. -- Dis*as"trous*ly, adv. -- Dis*as"trous*ness, n.

ive of confidence; to deject; -- the opposite of encourage; as, he was discouraged in his undertaking; he need not be discouraged from a like attempt. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. Col. iii. 21.

That which discourages; that which deters, or tends to deter, from an undertaking, or from the prosecution of anything; a determent; as, the revolution was commenced under every possible discouragement. "Discouragements from vice." Swift.

To engage in any affair. Slow to embark in such an undertaking. Macaulay.

volves activity, courage, energy, and the like; a bold, arduous, or hazardous attempt; an undertaking; as, a manly enterprise; a warlike enterprise. Shak. Their hands can not perform their enterprise. Job v. 12.

ity; the entry of a river into the sea; the entry of air into the blood; an entry upon an undertaking.

A complete or ridiculous failure, esp. of a musical performance, or of any pretentious undertaking.

To make a ridiculous failure in an undertaking. [Colloq. or Low] To fizzle out, to burn with a hissing noise and then go out, like wet gunpowder; hence, to fail completely and ridicuously; to prove a failure. [Colloq.]

To withdraw from any suffering or undertaking, from pain or danger; to fail in doing or perserving; to show signs of yielding or of suffering; to shrink; to wince; as, one of the parties flinched from the combat. A child, by a constant course of kindness, may be accustomed to bear very rough usage without flinching or…

To fail, as on a lesson; to back out, as from an undertaking, through fear.

professional jesters. -- Fool's errand, an unreasonable, silly, profitless adventure or undertaking. -- Fool's gold, iron or copper pyrites, resembling gold in color. -- Fool's paradise, a name applied to a limbo (see under Limbo) popularly believed to be the region of vanity and nonsense. Hence, any foolish pleasu…

ehension; impressing dread; adapted to excite fear and deter from approach, encounter, or undertaking; alarming. They seemed to fear the formodable sight. Dryden. I swell my preface into a volume, and make it formidable, when you see so many pages behind. Drydn.

That which befalls or is to befall one; lot in life, or event in any particular undertaking; fate; destiny; as, to tell one's fortune. You, who men's fortunes in their faces read. Cowley.

ailing eastward around the earth. -- To gain ground, to make progress; to advance in any undertaking; to prevail; to acquire strength or extent. -- To gain over, to draw to one's party or interest; to win over. -- To gain the wind (Naut.), to reach the windward side of another ship.

One who binds himself to see an undertaking of another performed; a guarantor. South.

In law and common usage: An undertaking to answer for the payment of some debt, or the performance of some contract or duty, of another, in case of the failure of such other to pay or perform; a guarantee; a warranty; a security.

ve; hard to endure or accomplish; hence, grievous, afflictive; as, heavy yokes, expenses, undertakings, trials, news, etc. The hand of the Lord was heavy upon them of Ashdod. 1 Sam. v. 6. The king himself hath a heavy reckoning to make. Shak. Sent hither to impart the heavy news. Wordsworth. Trust him not in matter of…

action; intention; design. I shortly afterwards set off for that capital, with an idea of undertaking while there the translation of the work. W. Irving.

d, or accomplished by the means employed, or at command; impossible; as, an impracticable undertaking.

passion often gives a violent impulse to the will. These were my natural impulses for the undertaking. Dryden.