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Displaying grace or beauty in form or action; elegant; easy; agreeable in appearance; as, a graceful walk, deportment, speaker, air, act, speech. High o'er the rest in arms the graceful Turnus rode. Dryden. -- Grace"ful*ly, adv. Grace"ful*ness, n.

or a particular purpose; the field or place of action; as, a hunting or fishing ground; a play ground. From . . . old Euphrates, to the brook that parts Egypt from Syrian ground. Milton.

, and having six strings, three of silk covered with silver wire, and three of catgut, -- played upon with the fingers.

To make a sentimental or untimely exhibition of affection; to display enthusiasm in a silly, demonstrative manner. [Colloq.]

Athletic; gymnastic. [Obs.] Have they not swordplayers, and every sort Of gymnic artists, wrestlers, riders, runners Milton.

To play the gypsy; to picnic in the woods. Mostly. Gyp"sy*ing, vb. n.

f shift (Mus.), a position of the hand, between the open position and the first shift, in playing on the violin and kindred instruments. See Shift. -- Half step (Mus.), a semitone; the smallest difference of pitch or interval, used in music. -- Half tide, the time or state of the tide equally distant from ebb and flo…

A game played with such a ball, as by players striking it to and fro between them with the hands, or alternately against a wall, until one side or the other fails to return the ball.

A child's play, one child guessing in which closed hand the other holds some small object, winning the object if right and forfeiting an equivalent if wrong; hence, forfeit. Piers Plowman.

rds, etc., to be charmed by eloquence. -- To hang out. (a) To be hung out so as to be displayed; to project. (b) To be unyielding; as, the juryman hangs out against an agreement. [Colloq.] (c) to lounge around a particular place; as, teenageers tend to hang out at the mall these days -- To hang over.…

nstellation situated south of and under the foot of Orion; Lepus. Hare and hounds, a game played by men and boys, two, called hares, having a few minutes' start, and scattering bits of paper to indicate their course, being chased by the others, called the hounds, through a wide circuit. -- Hare kangaroo (Zoöl.)., a sm…

A buffoon, dressed in party-colored clothes, who plays tricks, often without speaking, to divert the bystanders or an audience; a merry-andrew; originally, a droll rogue of Italian comedy. Percy Smith. As dumb harlequin is exhibited in our theaters. Johnson. Harlequin bat (Zoöl.), an Indian bat (Scotophilus ornatus), c…

A play or part of play in which the harlequin is conspicuous; the part of a harlequin. Macaulay.

To play the harlot; to practice lewdness. Milton.

of a triangular frame furnished with strings and sometimes with pedals, held upright, and played with the fingers.

A player on the harp; a minstrel. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks . . . Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms. Longfellow.

A player on the harp; a harper. W. Browne.

instrument of music set horizontally on legs, like the grand piano, with strings of wire, played by the fingers, by means of keys provided with quills, instead of hammers, for striking the strings. It is now superseded by the piano.

A sort of panel, upon which the arms of a deceased person are temporarily displayed, -- usually on the walls of his dwelling. It is lozenge-shaped or square, but is hung cornerwise. It is used in England as a means of giving public notification of the death of the deceased, his or her rank, whether married, widower, wi…

A player on the hautboy.