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A messenger sent with haste to convey letters or dispatches, usually on public busuness. The wary Bassa . . . by speedy couriers, advertised Solyman of the enemy's purpose. Knolles.

report on some military matter, as the conduct of an officer. -- Court of St. James, the usual designation of the British Court; - - so called from the old palace of St. James, which is used for the royal receptions, levees, and drawing-rooms. -- The court of the Lord, the temple at Jerusalem; hence, a church, or Chr…

so curtsy.] The lady drops a courtesy in token of obedience, and the ceremony proceeds as usual. Golgsmith.

3, to preserve the reformed religion in Scotland, and to extirpate popery and prelacy; -- usually called the "Solemn League and Covenant." He [Wharton] was born in the days of the Covenant, and was the heir of a covenanted house. Macualay.

To put the usual covering or headdress on. Cover thy head . . . ; nay, prithee, be covered. Shak.

A strong inclined frame, usually of wrought-iron bars, in front of a locomotive engine, for catching or throwing off obstructions on a railway, as cattle; the pilot. [U.S.]

A monk's hood; -- usually attached to the gown. The nname was also applied to the hood and garment together. What differ more, you cry, than crown and cowl Pope.

A tuft of hair turned up or awry (usually over the forehead), as if licked by a cow.

Shrinking from approach or familiarity; reserved; bashful; shy; modest; -- usually applied to women, sometimes with an implication of coquetry. Coy, and difficult to win. Cowper. Coy and furtive graces. W. Irving. Nor the coy maid, half willings to be pressed, Shall kiss the cup, to pass it to the rest. Goldsmith.…

To cheat; to defrand; to beguile; to deceive, usually by small arts, or in a pitiful way. He had cozened the world by fine phrases. Macualay. Children may be cozened into a knowledge of the letters. Locke. Goring loved no man so well but that he would cozen him, and expose him to public mirth for having been cozened. C…

One of the brachyuran Crustacea. They are mostly marine, and usually have a broad, short body, covered with a strong shell or carapace. The abdomen is small and curled up beneath the body.

A device, usually of iron bent at the ends, used to hold together blocks of stone, timbers, etc.; a cramp iron.

An implement for drawing, made of clay and plumbago, or of some preparation of chalk, usually sold in small prisms or cylinders. Let no day pass over you . . . without giving some strokes of the pencil or the crayon. Dryden.

off, or to which cream has been added. -- Cream gauge, an instrument to test milk, being usually a graduated glass tube in which the milk is placed for the cream to rise. -- Cream nut, the Brazil nut. -- Cream of lime. (a) A scum of calcium carbonate which forms on a solution of milk of lime from the carbon dioxide…

od-tar oil; an oily antiseptic liquid, of a burning smoky taste, colorless when pure, but usually colored yellow or brown by impurity or exposure. It is a complex mixture of various phenols and their ethers, and is obtained by the distillation of wood tar, especially that of beechwood.

A bearing worn, not upon the shield, but usually above it, or separately as an ornament for plate, liveries, and the like. It is a relic of the ancient cognizance. See Cognizance, 4.

ndition of endemic or inherited idiocy, accompanied by physical degeneracy and deformity (usually with goiter), frequent in certain mountain valleys, esp. of the Alps.

-- Criminal conversation (Law), unlawful intercourse with a married woman; adultery; -- usually abbreviated, crim. con. -- Criminal law, the law which relates to crimes.

Hair which has been crimped; -- usually in pl.

or pope thimble or grommet worked into or attached to the edges and corners of a sail; -- usually in the plural. The cringles are used for making fast the bowline bridles, earings, etc.