Search the Dictionary

Giving pain or unpleasant sensations; disagreeable; revolting; noxious; as, an offensive smell; offensive sounds. "Offensive to the stomach." Bacon.

a sacred nature, conferred by God himself; as, the office of a priest under the old dispensation, and that of the apostles in the new. Inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office. Rom. xi. 13.

To produce a sensation of weight in (some part of the body); as, my lungs are oppressed by the damp air; excess of food oppresses the stomach.

n end. Hence, to regulate; to dispose; to direct; to rule. To him that ordereth his conversation aright. Ps. 1. 23. Warriors old with ordered spear and shield. Milton.

Common; customary; usual. Shak. Method is not less reguisite in ordinary conversation that in writing. Addison.

o have or be under an obigation to restore, pay, or render (something) in return or compensation for something received; to be indebted in the sum of; as, the subject owes allegiance; the fortunate owe assistance to the unfortunate. The one ought five hundred pence, and the other fifty. Bible (1551). A son owes help an…

Any uneasy sensation in animal bodies, from slight uneasiness to extreme distress or torture, proceeding from a derangement of functions, disease, or injury by violence; bodily distress; bodily suffering; an ache; a smart. "The pain of Jesus Christ." Chaucer.

The science which explains, by the law of causation, the past condition and changes of the earth. -- Pa*læ`ti*o*log"ic*al, a.

Talk; conversation; esp., idle or beguiling talk; talk intended to deceive; flattery.

A rapid pulsation; a throbbing; esp., an abnormal, rapid beating of the heart as when excited by violent exertion, strong emotion, or by disease.

e or partial; esp., the loss of the power of voluntary motion, with or without that of sensation, in any part of the body; palsy. See Hemiplegia, and Paraplegia. Also used figuratively. "Utter paralysis of memory." G. Eliot. Mischievous practices arising out of the paralysis of the powers of ownership. Duke of Argyll (…

Incomplete paralysis, affecting motion but not sensation.

Conversation; discourse; talk; diction; phrase; as, in legal parlance; in common parlance. A hate of gossip parlance and of sway. Tennyson.

Conversation; talk; parley. [Obs.] They ended parle, and both addressed for fight. Milton.

Mutual discourse or conversation; discussion; hence, an oral conference with an enemy, as with regard to a truce. We yield on parley, but are stormed in vain. Dryden. To beat a parley (Mil.), to beat a drum, or sound a trumpet, as a signal for holding a conference with the enemy.

A room for business or social conversation, for the reception of guests, etc. Specifically:

of Cross. -- Patriarchal dispensation, the divine dispensation under which the patriarchs lived before the law given by Moses.

A temporary stop or rest; an intermission of action; interruption; suspension; cessation.

y attention; to pay a visit. Not paying me a welcome. Shak. To pay off. (a) To make compensation to and discharge; as, to pay off the crew of a ship. (b) To allow (a thread, cord, etc.) to run off; to unwind. -- To pay one's duty, to render homage, as to a sovereign or other superior. -- To pay out (Naut.), to pass o…

The act of paying, or giving compensation; the discharge of a debt or an obligation. No man envieth the payment of a debt. Bacon.