Search the Dictionary

To countermand an order for. [R.]

hat which is twined or twisted; to disentangle; to untie. It requires a long and powerful counter sympathy in a nation to untwine the ties of custom which bind a people to the established and the old. Sir W. Hamilton.

off, as currency; to cause to pass in trade; -- often used, specifically, of the issue of counterfeit notes or coins, forged or fraudulent documents, and the like; as, to utter coin or bank notes. The whole kingdom should continue in a firm resolution never to receive or utter this fatal coin. Swift.…

alternately white and blue. Fairholt. No vair or ermine decked his garment. Sir W. Scott. Counter vair (Her.), a fur resembling vair, except in the arrangement of the patches or figures.

Strength of mind in regard to danger; that quality which enables a man to encounter danger with firmness; personal bravery; courage; prowess; intrepidity. For contemplation he and valor formed. Milton. When valor preys on reason, It eats the sword it fights with. Shak. Fear to do base, unworthy things is valor. B. Jons…

A ditch on the outside of the counterscarp, usually full of water.

ome, or subdue in battle, as an enemy. Hakluyt. They . . . Vanquished the rebels in all encounters. Clarendon.

nown from an enemy, or a person who has a right to pass the watch from one who has not; a countersign; a password.

To lie in wait for; to meet or encounter in the way; especially, to watch for the passing of, with a view to seize, rob, or slay; to beset in ambush. Falstaff, Bardolph, Peto, and Gadshill shall rob those men that we have already waylaid. Shak. She often contrived to waylay him in his walks. Sir W. Scott.…

e. (b) Hence, to gain or accomplish anything against opposition. -- To weather out, to encounter successfully, though with difficulty; as, to weather out a storm.

To be equivalent to in weight; to counterbalance; to have the heaviness of. "A body weighing divers ounces." Boyle.

A cavity which receives a counterbalancing weight in certain mechanical contrivances, and is adapted also for other purposes. W. M. Buchanan.

A whirlwind, or whirlwind squall, encountered in the Straits of Magellan. W. C. Russell.