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Licentious painting or literature; especially, the painting anciently employed to decorate the walls of rooms devoted to bacchanalian orgies.

employed to prevent mischief or secure good; as, his life was saved by precaution. They [ancient philosophers] treasured up their supposed discoveries with miserable precaution. J. H. Newman.

a contract of marriage which, according to the ancient law, rendered void a subsequent marriage solemnized in violation of it. Abbott.

Most ancient; -- said of the peer bearing the oldest title of his degree.

A civil officer or magistrate among the ancient Romans.

According to the original rule or ancient practice; in the ancient style. South.

al course of nature, from which omens are drawn; a portent; as, eclipses and meteors were anciently deemed prodigies. So many terrors, voices, prodigies, May warn thee, as a sure foregoing sign. Milton.

an inherent property or quality; peculiarity. [Obs.] Bacon. We find no mention hereof in ancient zoögraphers, . . . who seldom forget proprieties of such a nature. Sir T. Browne.

The act of proscribing; a dooming to death or exile; outlawry; specifically, among the ancient Romans, the public offer of a reward for the head of a political enemy; as, under the triumvirate, many of the best Roman citizens fell by proscription. Every victory by either party had been followed by a sanguinary proscrip…

Of or pertaining to the protasis of an ancient play; introductory.

Of or pertaining to the ancient Carthaginians.

e talk of Rome." Ascham. Such was the origin of a friendship as warm and pure as any that ancient or modern history records. Macaulay.

A sort of ancient trimming of tinsel and thread for women's gowns; -- called also bobbinwork. [Obs.] Piers Plowman.

To seek; to use or adopt measures to obtain; as, to pursue a remedy at law. The fame of ancient matrons you pursue. Dryden.

Prosecution. [Obs.] That pursuit for tithes ought, and of ancient time did pertain to the spiritual court. Fuller. Curve of pursuit (Geom.), a curve described by a point which is at each instant moving towards a second point, which is itself moving according to some specified law.

An ancient English fishing boat.

A low tower, having a truncated pyramidal form, and flanking an ancient Egyptian gateway. Massive pylons adorned with obelisks in front. J. W. Draper.

Of or pertaining to an ancient Greek martial dance. " ye have the pyrrhic dance as yet." Byron.

racles at Delphi. Pythian games (Gr. Antiq.), one of the four great national festivals of ancient Greece, celebrated near Delphi, in honor of Apollo, the conqueror of the dragon Python, at first once in eight years, afterward once in four.

An indulgence of forty days, corresponding to the forty days of ancient canonical penance.