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To have a slight taste, or a slight, superficial knowledge, of anything; to smack.

One who has only a slight, superficial knowledge; a sciolist.

A slight, superficial knowledge of something; sciolism. I had a great desire, not able to attain to a superficial skill in any, to have some smattering in all. Burton.

aph made, usually with a hand camera, without formal posing of, and often without the foreknowledge of, the subject.

bruptly, or without permission or ceremony; as, to snatch a loaf or a kiss. When half our knowledge we must snatch, not take. Pope.

tinction from intellect; -- sometimes, the intellect only; the understanding; the seat of knowledge, as distinguished from feeling. In a more general sense, "an animating, separable, surviving entity, the vehicle of individual personal existence." Tylor. The eyes of our souls only then begin to see, when our bodily eye…

Predominant; greatest; utmost; paramount. We acknowledge him [God] our sovereign good. Hooker.

are." Chaucer. [Thou] thy Father's dreadful thunder didst not spare. Milton. He that hath knowledge, spareth his words. Prov. xvii. 27.

heavenly flame." Pope. We have here and there a little clear light, some sparks of bright knowledge. Locke. Bright gem instinct with music, vocal spark. Wordsworth. Spark arrester, a contrivance to prevent the escape of sparks while it allows the passage of gas, -- chiefly used in the smokestack of a wood-burning locom…

Devotion to a particular and restricted part or branch of knowledge, art, or science; as, medical specialism.

o apply to some specialty or limited object; to assign to a specific use; as, specialized knowledge.

versed, or which he makes an object of special attention; a speciality. Men of boundless knowledge, like Humbold, must have had once their specialty, their pet subject. C. Kingsley.

with letters, esp. with the proper letters, either orally or in writing. When what small knowledge was, in them did dwell, And he a god, who could but read or spell. Dryden.

Circuit or range of action, knowledge, or influence; compass; province; employment; place of existence. To be called into a huge sphere, and not to be seen to move in 't. Shak. Taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity, and inclosing her in a sphere by herself. Hawthorne. Each in his hidden sphere of joy o…

ed in leavening a larger quantity. -- To throw up the sponge, to give up a contest; to acknowledge defeat; -- from a custom of the prize ring, the person employed to sponge a pugilist between rounds throwing his sponge in the air in token of defeat. [Cant or Slang] "He was too brave a man to throw up the sponge to fat…

It is as sport a fool do mischief. prov. x. 23. Her sports were such as carried riches of knowledge upon the stream of delight. Sir P. Sidney. Think it but a minute spent in sport. Shak.

Doctrine or knowledge of the stars; star lore; astrology; astronomy. [Obs.] Which in star-read were wont have best insight. Spenser.

State of the American Union, as distinguished from the general government. [R.] I have no knowledge of any other kind of political citizenship, higher or lower, statal or national. Edward Bates.

Of or pertaining to statistics; as, statistical knowledge, statistical tabulation.

es. -- Statute merchant (Eng. Law), a bond of record pursuant to the stat. 13 Edw. I., acknowledged in form prescribed, on which, if not paid at the day, an execution might be awarded against the body, lands, and goods of the debtor, and the obligee might hold the lands until out of the rents and profits of them the d…