Search the Dictionary

The art of judging of a person's character, disposition, and aptitude from his handwriting.

ot (Zoöl.), a parrot (Psittacus erithacus), very commonly domesticated, and noted for its aptness in learning to talk. -- Gray pike. (Zoöl.) See Sauger. -- Gray snapper (Zoöl.), a Florida fish; the sea lawyer. See Snapper. -- Gray snipe (Zoöl.), the dowitcher in winter plumage. -- Gray whale (Zoöl.), a rather large…

Adapted for walking; anisodactylous; as the feet of certain birds and insects. See Illust. under Aves.

Structure, as adapted to grind or sharpen; as, a hone of good grit.

f a ship of war, usually occupied as a messroom by the commissioned officers, except the captain; -- called wardroom in the United States navy.

A genus of extinct oölitic fishes, having rounded teeth in several rows adapted for crushing.

Fit; qualified; also, apt. [Obs.] Spenser.

Ability; aptitude. [Obs.] Robynson. (More's Utopia).

inary course of conduct; practice; usage; hence, prominently, the involuntary tendency or aptitude to perform certain actions which is acquired by their frequent repetition; as, habit is second nature; also, peculiar ways of acting; characteristic forms of behavior. A man of very shy, retired habits. W. Irving.…

e among the Congregational churches of New England, between 1657 and 1662, of permitting baptized persons of moral life and orthodox faith to enjoy all the privileges of church membership, save the partaking of the Lord's Supper. They were also allowed to present their children for baptism. -- Halfway house, an inn or…

A kind of basket, usually of wickerwork, and adapted for the packing and carrying of articles; a hamper. Hanaper office, an office of the English court of chancery in which writs relating to the business of the public, and the returns to them, were anciently kept in a hanaper or hamper. Blackstone.

king; to treat, as a theme, an argument, or an objection. We will handle what persons are apt to envy others. Bacon. To handle without gloves. See under Glove. [Colloq.]

Adapted for sustaining a hanging object; as, the hanging post of a gate, the post which holds the hinges. Hanging compass, a compass suspended so that the card may be read from beneath. -- Hanging garden, a garden sustained at an artificial elevation by any means, as by the terraces at Babylon. -- Hanging indentation…

Dexterous; ready; apt; felicitous. One gentleman is happy at a reply, another excels in a in a rejoinder. Swift. Happy family, a collection of animals of different and hostile propensities living peaceably together in one cage. Used ironically of conventional alliances of persons who are in fact mutually repugnant. --…

Adapted to each other; having parts proportioned to each other; symmetrical. God hath made the intellectual world harmonious and beautiful without us. Locke.

To agree in action, adaptation, or effect on the mind; to agree in sense or purport; as, the parts of a mechanism harmonize.

The just adaptation of parts to each other, in any system or combination of things, or in things, or things intended to form a connected whole; such an agreement between the different parts of a design or composition as to produce unity of effect; as, the harmony of the universe.

A note at the head of a page or chapter; in law reports, an abstract of a case, showing the principles involved and the opinion of the court.

Understanding; mental faculty. Eumenes had the best headpiece of all Alexander's captains. Prideaux.

Apt to affect the head; intoxicating; strong. The liquor is too heady. Dryden.