Search the Dictionary

Forward; early; first ripe. [Obs.] "As the hasty fruit before the summer." Is. xxviii. 4.

To set on the head; as, to head a cask. To head off, to intercept; to get before; as, an officer heads off a thief who is escaping. -- To head up, to close, as a cask or barrel, by fitting a head to.

ining issues. His last offenses to us Shall have judicious hearing. Shak. Another hearing before some other court. Dryden.

fireplace; also, a corresponding part of a stove. There was a fire on the hearth burning before him. Jer. xxxvi. 22. Where fires thou find'st unraked and hearths unswept. There pinch the maids as blue as bilberry. Shak.

An offering or oblation heaved up or elevated before the altar, as the shoulder of the peace offering. See Wave offering. Ex. xxix. 27.

er, of passion, of madness, of folly; the height of a tempest. My grief was at the height before thou camest. Shak. On height, aloud. [Obs.] [He] spake these same words, all on hight. Chaucer.

furnish with relief, as in pain or disease; to be of avail against; -- sometimes with of before a word designating the pain or disease, and sometimes having such a word for the direct object. "To help him of his blindness." in is used for that function; -- "to help him in his misery" Shak. The true calamus helps cough…

Up to this time; hitherto; before; in time past. Shak.

Strong-scented; slightly tainted; as, epicures do not cook game before it is high.

o the part or end which follows or is behind, in opposition to the part which leads or is before; as, the hind legs or hind feet of a quadruped; the hind man in a procession.

A small mortar on a gun carriage, in use before the howitzer.

A cake of Indian meal, water, and salt, baked before the fire or in the ashes; -- so called because often cooked on a hoe. [Southern U.S.]

ly, a woody hill. "Every holt and heath." Chaucer. She sent her voice though all the holt Before her, and the park. Tennyson.

grass (Hierochloa borealis and H. alpina). In the north of Europe it was formerly strewed before church doors on saints' days; whence the name. It is common in the northern and western parts of the United States. Called also vanilla, or Seneca, grass. -- Holy Innocents' day, Childermas day. -- Holy Land, Palestine, t…

ors or advocates home rule. -- Home run (Baseball), a complete circuit of the bases made before the batted ball is returned to the home base. -- Home stretch (Sport.), that part of a race course between the last curve and the winning post. -- Home thrust, a well directed or effective thrust; one that wounds in a vit…

A title borne by the princes or governors of Moldavia and Wallachia before those countries were united as Roumania.

ed to be the body of Christ, which in the Mass is offered as a sacrifice; also, the bread before consecration.

h the person is to be released. Your hostages I have, so have you mine; And we shall talk before we fight. Shak. He that hath a wife and children hath given hostages to fortune. Bacon.

A court formerly held in several cities of England; specif., a court held in London, before the lord mayor, recorder, and sheriffs, to determine certain classes of suits for the recovery of lands within the city. In the progress of law reform this court has become unimportant. Mozley & W.

as in persons of very feeble organization, by gazing steadly at a very bright object held before the eyes, or by pressure upon certain points of the surface of the body.