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To do, make, or utter extempore or off-hand; to prepare in great haste, under urgent necessity, or with scanty or unsuitable materials; as, to extemporize a dinner, a costume, etc. Themistocles . . . was of all men the best able to extemporize the right thing to be done. Jowett (Thucyd. ). Pitt, of whom it was said tha…

The best of worst; most urgent; greatest; highest; immoderate; excessive; most violent; as, an extreme case; extreme folly. "The extremest remedy." Dryden. "Extreme rapidity." Sir W. Scott. Yet extreme gusts will blow out fire. Shak.

Importunity; urgent demand. [Archaic] Carlyle.

Fig.: Urgent; intense; as, a high-pressure business or social life. High-pressure engine, an engine in which steam at high pressure is used. It may be either a condensing or a noncondensing engine. Formerly the term was used only of the latter. See Steam engine.

Imperative; urgent; compelling. Imperious need, which can not be withstood. Dryden.

Importunate; pressing; urgent. [Obs.] Shak.

Troublesomely urgent; unreasonably solicitous; overpressing in request or demand; urgent; teasing; as, an impotunate petitioner, curiosity. Whewell.

Troublesome; vexatious; persistent; urgent; hence, vexatious on account of untimely urgency or perinacious solicitation. [Obs.] And their importune fates all satisfied. Spenser. Of all other affections it [envy] is the most importune and continual. Bacon.

The quality of being importunate; pressing or pertinacious solicitation; urgent request; incessant or frequent application; troublesome pertinacity. O'ercome with importunity and tears. Milton.

nd and refuse to give way; to hold to something firmly or determinedly; to be persistent, urgent, or pressing; to persist in demanding; -- followed by on, upon, or that; as, he insisted on these conditions; he insisted on going at once; he insists that he must have money. Insisting on the old prerogative. Shak. Without…

The quality of insisting, or being urgent or pressing; the act of dwelling upon as of special importance; persistence; urgency.

That which is instant or urgent; motive. [Obs.] The instances that second marriage move Are base respects of thrift, but none of love. Shak.

Pressing; urgent; importunate; earnest. Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer. Rom. xii. 12. I am beginning to be very instant for some sort of occupation. Carlyle.

One who favors, or takes part in, insurrection; an insurgent.

Emphatic; impressive; urgent; as, a loud call for united effort. [Colloq.]

A state that requires supply or relief; pressing occasion for something; necessity; urgent want. And the city had no need of the sun. Rev. xxi. 23. I have no need to beg. Shak. Be governed by your needs, not by your fancy. Jer. Taylor.

business or affairs, or is absent from his post, and, hence, a time when affairs are not urgent; as, he took an off day for fishing: an off year in politics. "In the off season." Thackeray. Off side. (a) The right hand side in driving; the farther side. See Gee. (b) (Cricket) See Off, n.

ch is viewed through an orifice or a magnifying glass. -- Peep-o'-day boys, the Irish insurgents of 1784; -- so called from their visiting the house of the loyal Irish at day break in search of arms. [Cant]

An urgent prayer or entreaty. Pleas of the crown (Eng. Law), criminal actions.

Urgent demands of business or affairs; urgency; as, a press of engagements.