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The quality of being droll; sportive tricks; buffoonery; droll stories; comical gestures or manners. The rich drollery of "She Stoops to Conquer." Macaulay.

To fall dead, or to fall in death. Nothing, says Seneca, so soon reconciles us to the thoughts of our own death, as the prospect of one friend after another dropping round us. Digby.

To ask or beset, as a debtor, for payment; to urge importunately. Hath she sent so soon to dun Swift.

A double cocoon, made by two silkworms.

particular condition; lasting; not perishable or changeable; not wearing out or decaying soon; enduring; as, durable cloth; durable happiness. Riches and honor are with me; yea, durable riches and righteousness. Prov. viii. 18. An interest which from its object and grounds must be so durable. De Quincey.…

ing exists. It was proposed that the duration of Parliament should be limited. Macaulay. Soon shall have passed our own human duration. D. Webster.

To make dusk. [Archaic] After the sun is up, that shadow which dusketh the light of the moon must needs be under the earth. Holland.

A small South African antelope (Cephalous mergens); -- called also impoon, and deloo.

Soon; in good season; seasonably; betimes; as, come early. Those that me early shall find me. Prov. viii. 17. You must wake and call me early. Tennyson.

The globe or planet which we inhabit; the world, in distinction from the sun, moon, or stars. Also, this world as the dwelling place of mortals, in distinction from the dwelling place of spirits. That law preserves the earth a sphere And guides the planets in their course. S. Rogers. In heaven, or earth, or under earth…

The sunlight reflected from the earth to the moon, by which we see faintly, when the moon is near the sun (either before or after new moon), that part of the moon's disk unillumined by direct sunlight, or "the old moon in the arms of the new."

Readily; without reluctance; willingly. Not soon provoked, she easily forgives. Prior.

An interception or obscuration of the light of the sun, moon, or other luminous body, by the intervention of some other body, either between it and the eye, or between the luminous body and that illuminated by it. A lunar eclipse is caused by the moon passing through the earth's shadow; a solar eclipse, by the moon com…

ng to an eclipse or to eclipses. Lunar ecliptic limit (Astron.), the space of 12º on the moon's orbit from the node, within which, if the moon happens to be at full, it will be eclipsed. -- Solar ecliptic limit, the space of 17º from the lunar node, within which, if a conjunction of the sun and moon occur, the sun wil…

number of copies of a work printed and published at one time; as, the first edition was soon sold.

s), remarkable for producing living young; -- called also greenbone, guffer, bard, and Maroona eel. Also, an American species (Z. anguillaris), -- called also mutton fish, and, erroneously, congo eel, ling, and lamper eel. Both are edible, but of little value.

Again; afterwards; soon; quickly. [Obs.] I wold never eft comen into the snare. Spenser.

alted with confidence; elated; exultant. O, thoughtless mortals! ever blind to fate, Too soon dejected, and dejected, and too soon elate. Pope. Our nineteenth century is wonderfully set up in its own esteem, wonderfully elate at its progress. Mrs. H. H. Jackson.

The loon or great northern diver. See Loon. [Written also emmer-goose and imber-goose.]

o curve. "Embowed arches." [Obs. or R.] Sir W. Scott. With gilded horns embowed like the moon. Spenser.