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to; as, he had, or would, rather go than stay. "I had rather speak five words with my understanding than ten thousands words in an unknown tongue." 1 Cor. xiv. 19. See Had rather, under Had.

Having reason, or the faculty of reasoning; endowed with reason or understanding; reasoning. It is our glory and happiness to have a rational nature. Law.

The doctrine or system of those who deduce their religious opinions from reason or the understanding, as distinct from, or opposed to, revelation.

To understand; to comprehend. [Obs.] Do what, sir I reach you not. Beau. & Fl.

ome other action; depression or exhaustion of vital force consequent on overexertion or overstimulation; heightened activity and overaction succeeding depression or shock.

To discover or understand by characters, marks, features, etc.; to learn by observation. An armed corse did lie, In whose dead face he read great magnanimity. Spenser. Those about her From her shall read the perfect ways of honor. Shak.

xistence of anything, in distinction from mere appearance; fact. A man fancies that he understands a critic, when in reality he does not comprehend his meaning. Addison.

is the intuitional faculty, or the faculty of first truths, as distinguished from the understanding, which is called the discursive or ratiocinative faculty. We have no other faculties of perceiving or knowing anything divine or human, but by our five senses and our reason. P. Browne. In common and popular discourse,…

agreement or suitableness; -- followed by with or to. The great men among the ancients understood how to reconcile manual labor with affairs of state. Locke. Some figures monstrous and misshaped appear, Considered singly, or beheld too near; Which, but proportioned to their light or place, Due distance reconciles to fo…

nally, especially in view of a moral rule or standard. By reflection, . . . I would be understood to mean, that notice which the mind takes of its own operations, and the manner of them, by reason whereof there come to be ideas of these operations in the understanding. Locke. This delight grows and improves under thoug…

To reverse. [Obs.] Whose shield he bears renverst. Spenser.

nd division of a subject into too many unconnected parts, and also to anything which is overstrained; as, a painting may want repose. Angle of repose (Physics), the inclination of a plane at which a body placed on the plane would remain at rest, or if in motion would roll or side down with uniform velocity; the angle a…

To cause to perceive or understand; to acquaint; to inform; to convince; to assure; to make certain. Sir, be resolved. I must and will come. Beau & Fl. Resolve me, Reason, which of these is worse, Want with a full, or with an empty purse Pope. In health, good air, pleasure, riches, I am resolved it can not be equaled b…

Having the form of a net, or of network; formed with interstices; retiform; as, reticular cartilage; a reticular leaf.

Composed of crossing lines and interstices; reticular; netlike; as, the retiform coat of the eye.

eries." Tennyson. When ideas float in our mind without any reflection or regard of the understanding, it is that which the French call revery, our language has scarce a name for it. Locke.

One well versed in the rules and principles of rhetoric. The understanding is that by which a man becomes a mere logician and a mere rhetorician. F. W. Robertson.

In railroads, the bed or foundation on which the superstructure (ties, rails, etc.) rests; in common roads, the whole material laid in place and ready for travel.

ugh and ready. (a) Acting with offhand promptness and efficiency. "The rough and ready understanding." Lowell.

y in contemplation. To run the world back to its first original. South. I would gladly understand the formation of a soul, and run it up to its "punctum saliens." Collier.