Search the Dictionary

ableness; inexpediency; awkwardness; as, the inconvenience of the arrangement. They plead against the inconvenience, not the unlawfulness, . . . of ceremonies in burial. Hooker.

hers when lying on the inner side of the filament, or of cotyledons when the radicle lies against the back of one of them. Gray.

That which is indecent; an indecent word or act; an offense against delicacy. They who, by speech or writing, present to the ear or the eye of modesty any of the indecencies I allude to, are pests of society. Beattie.

The act or process of indemnifying, preserving, or securing against loss, damage, or penalty; reimbursement of loss, damage, or penalty; the state of being indemnified. Indemnification is capable of some estimate; dignity has no standard. Burke.

To save harmless; to secure against loss or damage; to insure. The states must at last engage to the merchants here that they will indemnify them from all that shall fall out. Sir W. Temple.

s Etym: [L.], or expurgatory index, is a catalogue of books from which passages marked as against faith or morals must be removed before Catholics can read them. These catalogues are published with additions, from time to time, by the Congregation of the Index, composed of cardinals, theologians, etc., under the sancti…

A writ of prohibition against proceeding in the spiritual court in certain cases, when the suit belongs to the common-law courts. Wharton (Law Dict. ).

in due form of law, by the finding or presentment of a grand jury; to find an indictment against; as, to indict a man for arson. It is the peculiar province of a grand jury to indict, as it is of a house of representatives to impeach.

i in the king's gate, that he stood not up, nor moved for him, he was full of indignation against Mordecai. Esther v. 9.

Any action toward another which manifests contempt for him; an offense against personal dignity; unmerited contemptuous treatment; contumely; incivility or injury, accompanied with insult. How might a prince of my great hopes forget So great indignities you laid upon me Shak. A person of so great place and worth constr…

The act or process of infecting. There was a strict order against coming to those pits, and that was only to prevent infection. De Foe.

To communicate a knowledge of facts to,by way of accusation; to warn against anybody. Tertullus . . . informed the governor against Paul. Acts xxiv. 1.

A proceeding in the nature of a prosecution for some offens against the government, instituted and prosecuted, really or nominally, by some authorized public officer on behalt of the government. It differs from an indictment in criminal cases chiefly in not being based on the finding of a grand juri. See Indictment.…

One who informs a magistrate of violations of law; one who informs against another for violation of some law or penal statute. Common informer (Law), one who habitually gives information of the violation of penal statutes, with a view to a prosecution therefor. Bouvier. Wharton.

, law, or constitution. The punishing of this infringement is proper to that jurisdiction against which the contempt is. Clarendon.

writ issued in certain actions at law, where the defendant has suffered judgment to pass against him by default, in order to ascertain and assess the plaintiff's damages, where they can not readily be ascertained by mere calculation. Burrill.

ne person more than another, or, as generally expressed, a right competent, or available, against all persons. Rights in rem include not alone rights over physical property, but all rights available against all persons indifferently, as those of life, liberty, and reputation.

ordered a lunch (the most delightful of English institutions, next to dinner) to be ready against our return. Hawthorne.

Capable of being insured against loss, damage, death, etc.; proper to be insured. The French law annuls the latter policies so far as they exceed the insurable interest which remained in the insured at the time of the subscription thereof. Walsh.

The act of insuring, or assuring, against loss or damage by a contingent event; a contract whereby, for a stipulated consideration, called premium, one party undertakes to indemnify or guarantee another against loss by certain specified risks. Cf. Assurance, n., 6.