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Disposed to give pain to others; willing or pleased to hurt, torment, or afflict; destitute of sympathetic kindness and pity; savage; inhuman; hard-hearted; merciless. Behold a people cometh from the north country; . . . they are cruel and have no mercy. Jer. vi. 22,23.

A cruel and barbarous deed; inhuman treatment; the act of willfully causing unnecessary pain. Cruelties worthy of the dungeons of the Inquisition. Macualay.

Smeared with blood. [Obs.] Glanwill.

to fall to decay or ruin; to become disintegrated; to perish. If the stone is brittle, it will crumble and pass into the form of gravel. Arbuthnot. The league deprived of its principal supports must soon crumble to pieces. Prescott.

. Shak. To cry on or upon, to call upon the name of; to beseech."No longer on Saint Denis will we cry." Shak. -- To cry out. (a) To exclaim; to vociferate; to scream; to clamor.

clear; transparent; lucid; pellucid; crystalline. Through crystal walls each little mote will peep. Shak. By crystal streams that murmur through the meads. Dryden. The crystal pellets at the touch congeal, And from the ground rebounds the ratting hail. H. Brooks.

mind a player to speak or to do something; a catchword. When my cue comes, call me, and I will answer. Shak.

s; -- originally applied to that paid on ships which entered the port of Canton. S. Wells Williams.

As much as a cup will hold.

To guide and manage, or restrain, as with a curb; to bend to one's will; to subject; to subdue; to restrain; to confine; to keep in check. Part wield their arms, part curb the foaming steed. Milton. Where pinching want must curbthy warm desires. Prior.

Incapable of cure; incurable. With patience undergo A cureless ill, since fate will have it so. Dryden.

o the inhabitants to cover fires, extinguish lights, and retire to rest, -- instituted by William the Conqueror; also, the bell itself. He begins at curfew, and walks till the first cock. Shak. The village curfew, as it tolled profound. Campbell.

ed; to have a curly appearance; as, leaves lie curled on the ground. Thou seest it [hair] will not curl by nature. Shak.

evil upon; to be the cause of serious harm or unhappiness to; to furnish with that which will be a cause of deep trouble; to afflict or injure grievously; to harass or torment. On impious realms and barbarous kings impose Thy plagues, and curse 'em with such sons as those. Pope. To curse by bell, book, and candle. See…

Disposition to willful wrongdoing; malignity; perversity; cantankerousness; obstinacy. [Slang or Colloq., U. S.]

nd watched to prevent escape; restraint of liberty; confinement; imprisonment. What pease will be given To us enslaved, but custody severe, And stripes and arbitrary punishment Milton.

rious for the daintiness of the provision . . . than for the massiveness of the dish. Hakewill. The duke exeeded in the daintiness of his leg and foot, and the earl in the fine shape of his hands, Sir H. Wotton.

ssume or affect delicacy or fastidiousness. [Obs.] Ah ha, my mistresses! which of you all Will now deny to dance She that makes dainty, She, I'll swear, hath corns. Shak.

To cause loss or damage to; to injure; to imparir. [R.] This work will ask as many more officials to make expurgations and expunctions, that the commonwealth of learning be not damnified. Milton.

Manacles; handcuffs. [Cant] Jem Clink will fetch you the darbies. Sir W. Scott.