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The apex of the last abdominal segment of an insect.

d imprisonment under the mark system, restraint intermediate between imprisonment and freedom, and liberation on ticket of leave.

eath; the ensign and chosen symbol of Christianity, of a Christian people, and of Christendom. The custom of making the sign of the cross with the hand or finger, as a means of conferring blessing or preserving from evil, is very old. Schaff-Herzog Encyc. Before the cross has waned the crescent's ray. Sir W. Scott. Tis…

Imperial or regal power or dominion; sovereignty. There is a power behind the crown greater than the crown itself. Junius.

Being vertical, or at the highest point of altitude; hence, predominant. [R.]

kill or dexterity; deceit; craft. Discourage cunning in a child; cunning is the ape of wisdom. Locke. We take cunning for a sinister or crooked wisdom. Bacon.

d love, interested love, or that which has an eye to the cupboard. "A cupboard love is seldom true." Poor Robin. [Colloq.] -- To cry cupboard, to call for food; to express hunger. [Colloq.] "My stomach cries cupboard." W. Irving.

early so; also, a celing having the same form. When on a large scale it is usually called dome.

rity of that opening; also, a ring of stone serving a similar purpose, as at the eye of a dome.

timation; the rate at which anything is generally valued. He . . . takes greatness of kingdoms according to their bulk and currency, and not after intrinsic value. Bacon. The bare name of Englishman . . . too often gave a transient currency to the worthless and ungrateful. W. Irving.

rs of commerce are regulated. -- General customs, those which extend over a state or kingdom. -- Particular customs, those which are limited to a city or district; as, the customs of London.

To put an untimely death; to put an end to; to destroy. "Irencut off by martyrdom." Addison. (c) To interrupt; as, to cut off communication; to cut off (the flow of) steam from (the boiler to) a steam engine. (d) To intercept; as,, to cut off an enemy's retreat.

, at the end of which time the days of the month return to the same days of the week. The dominical or Sunday letter follows the same order; hence the solar cycle is also called the cycle of the Sunday letter. In the Gregorian calendar the solar cycle is in general interrupted at the end of the century.…

A dome-shaped structure built over relics of Buddha or some Buddhist saint. [East Indies]

A small oval plum of a blue color, the fruit of a variety of the Prunus domestica; -- called also damask plum.

To cloud, obscure, or perplex; to render less clear or intelligible. Such was his wisdom that his confidence did seldom darkenhis foresight. Bacon. Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge Job. xxxviii. 2.

in actions, or in discourse; proper formality; becoming ceremony; seemliness; hence, freedom from obscenity or indecorum; modesty. Observances of time, place, and of decency in general. Burke. Immodest words admit of no defense, For want of decency is want of sense. Roscommon.

g the deeper reality from our eyes. Trench. Deceptive cadence (Mus.), a cadence on the subdominant, or in some foreign key, postponing the final close.

his beggar, you must tell him, That majesty, to keep decorum, must No less beg than a kingdom. Shak.

errors they whole plays decry. Dryden. Measures which are extolled by one half of the kingdom are naturally decried by the other. Addison.