Search the Dictionary

A staff used in cudgel play, shorter than the quarterstaff, and wielded with one hand; hence, any heavy stick used as a weapon. He getteth him a grievous crabtree cudgel and . . . falls to rating of them as if they were dogs. Bunyan. Cudgel play, a fight or sportive contest with cudgels. -- To cross the cudgels, to fo…

The body. In cuerpo, without full dress, so that the shape of the Body is exposed; hence, naked or uncovered. Exposed in cuerpo to their rage. Hudibras.

enefit; incorrectly understood, it came to be used in the sense, of what good or use; and hence, (what) purpose; object; specif., the ultimate object of life.

A passage with only one outlet, as a street closed at one end; a blind alley; hence, a trap.

Being vertical, or at the highest point of altitude; hence, predominant. [R.]

Repeated potations; social or exessive indulgence in intoxicating drinks; revelry. Thence from cups to civil broils. Milton.

A small closet in a room, with shelves to receive cups, dishes, food, etc.; hence, any small closet. Cupboard love, interested love, or that which has an eye to the cupboard. "A cupboard love is seldom true." Poor Robin. [Colloq.] -- To cry cupboard, to call for food; to express hunger. [Colloq.] "My stomach cries cupb…

Spiritual charge; care of soul; the office of a parish priest or of a curate; hence, that which is committed to the charge of a parish priest or of a curate; a curacy; as, to resign a cure; to obtain a cure. The appropriator was the incumbent parson, and had the cure of the souls of the parishioners. Spelman.…

A flowing or passing; onward motion. Hence: A body of fluid moving continuously in a certain direction; a stream; esp., the swiftest part of it; as, a current of water or of air; that which resembles a stream in motion; as, a current of electricity. Two such silver currents, when they join, Do glorify the banks that bo…

, or exhibiting the characteristics, of a cur; snarling; quarrelsome; snappish; churlish; hence, also malicious; malignant; brutal. Thy currish spirit Governed a wolf. Shak. Some currish plot, -- some trick. Lockhart. -- Cur"rish*ly, adv. -- Cur"rish*ness, n.

artly as a mark, and partly from a notion that the tail is necessary to a dog in running; hence, a dog not fit for sporting. Hope is a curtail dog in some affairs. Shak.

performance begins. -- To draw the curtain, to close ot over an object, or to remove it; hence: (a) To hide or to disclose an object. (b) To commence or close a performance. -- To drop the curtain, to end the tale, or close the performance.

A horse with a docked tail; hence, anything cut short. [Obs] Nares.

dignitaries; pertaining to, having, or conferring, the right to sit in the curule chair; hence, official.

Any ornamental vessel used as a spittoon; hence, to avoid the common term, a spittoon of any sort.

unded corms, and pretty nodding flowers with the petals so reflexed as to point upwards, whence it is called rabbit's ears. It is also called sow bread, because hogs are said to eat the corms.

turn to the same days of the week. The dominical or Sunday letter follows the same order; hence the solar cycle is also called the cycle of the Sunday letter. In the Gregorian calendar the solar cycle is in general interrupted at the end of the century.

originally, of the seven so-called liberal arts and sciences); circle of human knowledge. Hence, a work containing, in alphabetical order, information in all departments of knowledge, or on a particular department or branch; as, a cyclopedia of the physical sciences, or of mechanics. See Encyclopedia.…

longing to the circle of the sciences, or to a cyclopedia; of the nature of a cyclopedia; hence, of great range, extent, or amount; as, a man of cyclopedic knowledge.

for austere lives and their scorn for social customs and current philosophical opinions. Hence the term Cynic symbolized, in the popular judgment, moroseness, and contempt for the views of others.