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The quality or state of being proper; suitableness to an acknowledged or correct standard or rule; consonance with established principles, rules, or customs; fitness; appropriateness; as, propriety of behavior, language, manners, etc. "The rule of propriety," Locke.

Standing before; -- applied to a gland which is found in the males of most mammals, and is situated at the neck of the bladder where this joins the urethra. -- n.

To try or to ascertain by an experiment, or by a test or standard; to test; as, to prove the strength of gunpowder or of ordnance; to prove the contents of a vessel by a standard measure. Thou hast proved mine heart. Ps. xvii. 3.

age. [Local, U. S. & Eng.] Pry pole, the pole which forms the prop of a hoisting gin, and stands facing the windlass.

A small quantity of dirty standing water; a muddy plash; a small pool. Spenser.

An elevated place, or inclosed stage, in a church, in which the clergyman stands while preaching. I stand like a clerk in my pulpit. Chaucer.

tual to tediousness in all that he relates. Bp. Burnet. So much on punctual niceties they stand. C. Pitt.

To attach (something) to; to harness beasts to. Dickens. -- To put to a stand, to stop; to arrest by obstacles or difficulties. -- To put to bed. (a) To undress and place in bed, as a child. (b) To deliver in, or to make ready for, childbirth. -- To put to death, to kill. -- To put together, to attach; to aggregate…

To perplex; to confuse; to embarrass; to put to a stand; to nonplus. A very shrewd disputant in those points is dexterous in puzzling others. Dr. H. More. He is perpetually puzzled and perplexed amidst his own blunders. Addison.

A specific gravity bottle; a standard flask for measuring and comparing the densities of liquids. [Also written pyknometer.]

A solid body standing on a triangular, square, or polygonal base, and terminating in a point at the top; especially, a structure or edifice of this shape.

mid; in the form of a a pyramid; pyramidical; as, pyramidal cleavage. The mystic obelisks stand up Triangular, pyramidal. Mrs. Browning.

lace covering the pyx. Trial of the pyx, the annual testing, in the English mint, of the standard of gold and silver coins. Encyc. Brit.

Sheathed, as in a quiver. "Whose quills stand quivered at his ear." Pope.

The two devices are sometimes united. Among several hundred varieties, the fish joint is standard. See Fish joint, under Fish. -- Rail train (Iron & Steel Manuf.), a train of rolls in a rolling mill, for making rails for railroads from blooms or billets.

Grade of official standing, as in the army, navy, or nobility; as, the rank of general; the rank of admiral.

That which is established as a measure or criterion; degree; standard; rank; proportion; ratio; as, a slow rate of movement; rate of interest is the ratio of the interest to the principal, per annum. Heretofore the rate and standard of wit was different from what it is nowadays. South. In this did his holiness and godl…

ee Admiral. -- Rear front (Mil.), the rear rank of a body of troops when faced about and standing in that position. -- Rear guard (Mil.), the division of an army that marches in the rear of the main body to protect it; -- used also figuratively. -- Rear line (Mil.), the line in the rear of an army. -- Rear rank (Mi…

s the intuitional faculty, or the faculty of first truths, as distinguished from the understanding, which is called the discursive or ratiocinative faculty. We have no other faculties of perceiving or knowing anything divine or human, but by our five senses and our reason. P. Browne. In common and popular discourse, re…

hrowing their lawful ruler or government by force; revolt; insurrection. No sooner is the standard of rebellion displayed than men of desperate principles resort to it. Ames.