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o motives, persuasion, or instruction; as, a ductile people. Addison. Forms their ductile minds To human virtues. Philips.

r activity; to render heavy; to make inert; to depress; to weary; to sadden. Attention of mind . . . wasted or dulled through continuance. Hooker.

A dull, gloomy state of the mind; sadness; melancholy; low spirits; despondency; ill humor; -- now used only in the plural. March slowly on in solemn dump. Hudibras. Doleful dumps the mind oppress. Shak. I was musing in the midst of my dumps. Bunyan.

s, decay, or dissolution; lastingness. A Gothic cathedral raises ideas of grandeur in our minds by the size, its height, . . . its antiquity, and its durability. Blair.

aise. This earthly load Of death, called life. Milton. Whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things. Phil. iii. 19.

or anything that annoys or disquiets; tranquillity; peace; comfort; security; as, ease of mind. Among these nations shalt thou find no ease. Deut. xxviii. 65. Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. Luke xii. 19.

e from care, responsibility, discontent, and the like; not anxious; tranquil; as, an easy mind. (c) Free from constraint, harshness, or formality; unconstrained; smooth; as, easy manners; an easy style. "The easy vigor of a line." Pope.

The state of being beside one's self or rapt out of one's self; a state in which the mind is elevated above the reach of ordinary impressions, as when under the influence of overpowering emotion; an extraordinary elevation of the spirit, as when the soul, unconscious of sensible objects, is supposed to contemplate heav…

To destroy, as a mental impression; to wear away. Efface from his mind the theories and notions vulgarly received. Bacon.

Impression left on the mind; sensation produced. Patchwork . . . introduced for oratorical effect. J. C. Shairp. The effect was heightened by the wild and lonely nature of the place. W. Irving.

anish; to make soft and delicate; to weaken. It will not corrupt or effeminate children's minds. Locke.

To exalt; to ennoble; to dignify; as, to elevate the mind or character.

lower place, condition, or quality to a higher; -- said of material things, persons, the mind, the voice, etc.; as, the elevation of grain; elevation to a throne; elevation of mind, thoughts, or character.

cipation of minors; the emancipation of a person from prejudices; the emancipation of the mind from superstition; the emancipation of a nation from tyranny or subjection.

n; to render effeminate; to vitiate by unmanly softness. Luxury had not emasculated their minds. V. Knox.

y; impediment to freedom of action; entanglement; hindrance; confusion or discomposure of mind, as from not knowing what to do or to say; disconcertedness. The embarrassment which inexperienced minds have often to express themselves upon paper. W. Irving. The embarrassments tom commerce growing out of the late regulati…

A moving of the mind or soul; excitement of the feelings, whether pleasing or painful; disturbance or agitation of mind caused by a specific exciting cause and manifested by some sensible effect on the body. How different the emotions between departure and return! W. Irving. Some vague emotion of delight. Tennyson.…

The cultivation of an emotional state of mind; tendency to regard things in an emotional manner.

Any dominion; supreme control; governing influence; rule; sway; as, the empire of mind or of reason. "Under the empire of facts." M. Arnold. Another force which, in the Middle Ages, shared with chivalry the empire over the minds of men. A. W. Ward. Celestial empire. See under Celestial. -- Empire City, a common design…

ploy the pen in writing, bricks in building, words and phrases in speaking; to employ the mind; to employ one's energies. This is a day in which the thoughts . . . ought to be employed on serious subjects. Addison.