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The act of erasing; a rubbing out; obliteration.

The act of erasing; a scratching out; obliteration.

learned; the acquisitions gained by extensive reading or study; particularly, learning in literature or criticism, as distinct from the sciences; scholarship. The management of a young lady's person is not be overlooked, but the erudition of her mind is much more to be regarded. Steele. The gay young gentleman whose er…

vance of the proprieties of rank and occasion; conventional decorum; ceremonial code of polite society. The pompous etiquette to the court of Louis the Fourteenth. Prescott.

words from the French it often appears as es-, sometimes as s- or é-; as, escape, scape, élite. Ex-, prefixed to names implying office, station, condition, denotes that the person formerly held the office, or is out of the office or condition now; as, ex-president, ex-governor, ex-mayor, ex-convict. The Greek form 'ex…

In a high or superior degree; -- in this literal use, not implying worthiness. [Obs.] When the whole heart is excellently sorry. J. Fletcher.

Departure; exodus; esp., the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. [Obs.] L. Coleman. Bolingbroke.

A going out; particularly (the Exodus), the going out or journey of the Israelites from Egypt under the conduct of Moses; and hence, any large migration from a place.

To blot out, as with pen; to rub out; to efface designedly; to obliterate; to strike out wholly; as, to expunge words, lines, or sentences.

To pluck up by the stem or root; to root out; to eradicate, literally or figuratively; to destroy wholly; as, to extirpate weeds; to extirpate a tumor; to extirpate a sect; to extirpate error or heresy.

The act or manner of making or doing anything; -- now used of a literary, musical, or pictorial production. Bacon.

A hydration of iolite.

ting star. -- Falling stone, a stone falling through the atmosphere; a meteorite; an aërolite. -- Falling tide, the ebb tide. -- Falling weather, a rainy season. [Colloq.] Bartlett.

Polite, fashionable, or genteel life; social position; good breeding; as, men of fashion.

A member of a literary or scientific society; as, a Fellow of the Royal Society.

A part of a French newspaper (usually the bottom of the page), devoted to light literature, criticism, etc.; also, the article or tale itself, thus printed.

Fictitious literature; comprehensively, all works of imagination; specifically, novels and romances. The office of fiction as a vehicle of instruction and moral elevation has been recognized by most if not all great educators. Dict. of Education.

Used in a sense that is tropical, as a metaphor; not literal; -- applied to words and expressions.

Not literal; figurative. [Obs.] Locke.

Anything employed to smooth, polish, or rasp, literally or figuratively. Mock the nice touches of the critic's file. Akenside.