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e, also, import or meaning of a sentence or discourse; aim. He has made the drift of the whole poem a compliment on his country in general. Addison. Now thou knowest my drift. Sir W. Scott.

To pierce or bore with a drill, or a with a drill; to perforate; as, to drill a hole into a rock; to drill a piece of metal.

A machine for drilling holes in metal, the drill being pressed to the metal by the action of a screw.

, in the act of taking the cup; to pledge in drinking. I drink to the general joy of the whole table, And to our dear friend Banquo. Shak.

The people on the globe. The whole earth was of one language. Gen. xi. 1.

of the Alleghany Mountains, esp. the Eastern, or New England, States; now, commonly, the whole region east of the Mississippi River, esp. that which is north of Maryland and the Ohio River; -- usually with the definite article; as, the commerce of the East is not independent of the agriculture of the West. East by nort…

center; -- said of circles, ellipses, spheres, etc., which, though coinciding, either in whole or in part, as to area or volume, have not the same center; -- opposed to concentric.

General; universal; in ecclesiastical usage, that which concerns the whole church; as, an ecumenical council. [Written also .] Ecumenical Bishop, a title assumed by the popes. -- Ecumenical council. See under Council.

The whole number of copies of a work printed and published at one time; as, the first edition was soon sold.

ing of one of eight equal divisions of a thing. Eighth note (Mus.), the eighth part of a whole note, or semibreve; a quaver.

Any region of fabulous wealth; exceeding richness. The whole comedy is a sort of El Dorado of wit. T. Moore.

te at an election; to use arts for securing the election of a candidate. A master of the whole art of electioneering. Macaulay.

The whole body of persons in a nation or state who are entitled to vote in an election, or any distinct class or division of them. The middle-class electorate of Great Britain. M. Arnold.

overeign were now to immure a subject in defiance of the writ of habeas corpus . . . the whole nation would be instantly electrified by the news. Macaulay. Try whether she could electrify Mr. Grandcourt by mentioning it to him at table. G. Eliot.

of several parts combined in a system of aggregation, when each is of the nature of the whole; as, a single cell is an element of the honeycomb.

To form into a body; to invest with a body; to collect into a body, a united mass, or a whole; to incorporate; as, to embody one's ideas in a treatise. [Written also imbody.] Devils embodied and disembodied. Sir W. Scott. The soul, while it is embodied, can no more be divided from sin. South.

To include as parts of a whole; to comprehend; to take in; as, natural philosophy embraces many sciences. Not that my song, in such a scanty space, So large a subject fully can embrace. Dryden.

hich engages or occupies a person; fixed or regular service or business; employment. The whole employ of body and of mind. Pope. In one's employ, in one's service.

In a lump; as a whole; all together. "Movement of the ossicles en bloc." Nature.

Sent to many persons or places; intended for many, or for a whole order of men; general; circular; as, an encyclical letter of a council, of a bishop, or the pope.