Search the Dictionary

acceptance of a fact, opinion, or assertion as real or true, without immediate personal knowledge; reliance upon word or testimony; partial or full assurance without positive knowledge or absolute certainty; persuasion; conviction; confidence; as, belief of a witness; the belief of our senses. Belief admits of all deg…

reasons, arguments, and deductions of the mind, or by circumstances other than personal knowledge; to regard or accept as true; to place confidence in; to think; to consider; as, to believe a person, a statement, or a doctrine. Our conqueror (whom I now Of force believe almighty). Milton. King Agrippa, believest thou…

emed for pasture in the Southern United States. It is a native of Southern Europe, but is now wide-spread in warm countries; -- called also scutch grass, and in Bermuda, devil grass.

ed as a forage plant and soil-renewing crop in the alkaline soils of the Nile valley, and now introduced into the southwestern United States. It is more succulent than other clovers or than alfalfa. Called also Egyptian clover.

, and on the day of his death a stranger abated or entered and kept the heir out. This is now abolished. Blackstone.

life is at best very short. -- For best, finally. [Obs.] "Those constitutions . . . are now established for best, and not to be mended." Milton. -- To get the best of, to gain an advantage over, whether fairly or unfairly. -- To make the best of. (a) To improve to the utmost; to use or dispose of to the greatest ad…

A highly elastic wood, used for fishing rods, etc. The tree is unknown, but it is thought to be East Indian.

To foreshow by present signs; to indicate something future by that which is seen or known; as, a dark cloud often betokens a storm.

e confidence of, by disclosing a secret, or that which one is bound in honor not to make known. Willing to serve or betray any government for hire. Macaulay.

More advanced; more perfect; as, upon better acquaintance; a better knowledge of the subject. All the better. See under All, adv. -- Better half, an expression used to designate one's wife. My dear, my better half (said he), I find I must now leave thee. Sir P. Sidney. -- To be better off, to be in a better condition.…

g once done, he is in less fear, and in more hope that the deed shall not be bewrayed or known. Robynson (More's Utopia. ) Thy speech bewrayeth thee. Matt. xxvi. 73.

One skilled in the knowledge of the Bible; a demonstrator of religious truth by the Scriptures.

To proclaim; to declare publicly; to make known. [Mostly obs.] "Our banns thrice bid !" Gay.

Barley, especially the hardy four-rowed kind. "Bear interchanges in local use, now with barley, now with bigg." New English Dict.

ipped by any person, signed by the agent of the owner of the vessel, or by its master, acknowledging the receipt of the goods, and promising to deliver them safe at the place directed, dangers of the sea excepted. It is usual for the master to sign two, three, or four copies of the bill; one of which he keeps in posses…

To surge; to rise and roll in waves or surges; to undulate. "The billowing snow." Prior.

The science of life; that branch of knowledge which treats of living matter as distinct from matter which is not living; the study of living tissue. It has to do with the origin, structure, development, function, and distribution of animals and plants.

ion (Alg.), an equation of the fourth degree, or an equation in some term of which the unknown quantity is raised to the fourth power. -- Biquadratic root of a number, the square root of the square root of that number. Thus the square root of 81 is 9, and the square root of 9 is 3, which is the biquadratic root of 81.…

A small European minnow (Leuciscus phoxinus).

A spiritual overseer, superintendent, or director. Ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls. 1 Pet. ii. 25. It is a fact now generally recognized by theologians of all shades of opinion, that in the language of the New Testament the same officer in the church is cal…