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A kind of half-pike, or halberd, formerly borne by inferior officers of the British infantry, and used in giving signals to the soldiers.

ful yoke . . . Which that men clepeth spousal or wedlock. Chaucer. the spousals of the newborn year. Emerson.

xviii. 27. Do not blast my springing hopes. Rowe. O, spring to light; auspicious Babe, be born. Pope.

Not legitimate; bastard; as, spurious issue. "Her spurious firstborn." Milton. Spurious primary, or Spurious quill (Zoöl.), the first, or outer, primary quill when rudimentary or much reduced in size, as in certain singing birds. -- Spurious wing (Zoöl.), the bastard wing, or alula.

A pole, stick, or wand borne as an ensign of authority; a badge of office; as, a constable's staff. Methought this staff, mine office badge in court, Was broke in twain. Shak. All his officers brake their staves; but at their return new staves were delivered unto them. Hayward.

e of any noted action or carrer; the spot where any remarkable affair occurs. When we are born, we cry that we are come To this stage of fools. Shak. Music and ethereal mirth Wherewith the stage of air and earth did ring. Miton.

Having a stalk or stem; borne upon a stem. Stalked barnacle (Zoöl.), a goose barnacle, or anatifer; -- called also stalk barnacle. -- Stalked crinoid (Zoöl.), any crinoid having a jointed stem.

Not easily subdued; unyielding; stubborn; obstinate; pertinacious; as, a stiff adversary. It is a shame to stand stiff in a foolish argument. Jer. Taylor. A war ensues: the Cretans own their cause, Stiff to defend their hospitable laws. Dryden.

Obstinate; stubborn; contumacious. Ezek. ii. 4.

Stubborn; inflexibly obstinate; contumacious; as, stiff-necked pride; a stiff-necked people. Ex. xxxii. 9.

The quality or state of being stiff-necked; stubbornness.

Violence of temper; anger; sullenness; resentment; willful obstinacy; stubbornness. [Obs.] Stern was his look, and full of stomach vain. Spenser. This sort of crying proceeding from pride, obstinacy, and stomach, the will, where the fault lies, must be bent. Locke.

Willfully obstinate; stubborn; perverse. [Obs.] -- Stom"ach*ful*ly, adv. [Obs.] -- Stom"ach*ful*ness, n. [Obs.]

Turn; tendency; inborn disposition. Cf. 1st Strain. Because heretics have a strain of madness, he applied her with some corporal chastisements. Hayward.

One who comes from a foreign land; a foreigner. I am a most poor woman and a stranger, Born out of your dominions. Shak.

Foolishly obstinate or resolute; stubborn; unrelenting; unfeeling; stern. This sturdy marquis gan his hearte dress To rue upon her wifely steadfastness. Chaucer. This must be done, and I would fain see Mortal so sturdy as to gainsay. Hudibras. A sturdy, hardened sinner shall advance to the utmost pitch of impiety with…

scribe, substruct, subserve, subject, subordinate, subacid, subastringent, subgranular, suborn. Sub- in Latin compounds often becomes sum- before m, sur before r, and regularly becomes suc-, suf- , sug-, and sup- before c, f, g, and p respectively. Before c, p, and t it sometimes takes form sus- (by the dropping of b f…

to bring under command; to reduce to mildness or obedience; to tame; as, to subdue a stubborn child; to subdue the temper or passions.

Pain endured; misery; suffering; distress. The seeming sufferances that you had borne. Shak.

Very hot, burning, and oppressive; as, Libya's sultry deserts. Such as, born beneath the burning sky And sultry sun, betwixt the tropics lie. Dryden.