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A porridge dish; esp., a bowl or cup from which children eat or are fed; as, a silver porringer. Wordsworth.

The part of an estate given to a child or heir, or descending to him by law, and distributed to him in the settlement of the estate; an inheritance. Give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. Luke xv. 12.

Childish sullenness.

To talk much and idly; to prate; hence, to talk lightly and artlessly, like a child; to utter child's talk.

d of one's years; too forward; -- used especially of mental forwardness; as, a precocious child; precocious talents.

To die sooner than. "If children predecease progenitors." Shak.

bias; -- generally, but not always, used in a favorable sense; as, the prepossessions of childhood. "The prejudices and prepossessions of the country." Sir W. Scott.

The particular position of the child during labor relatively to the passage though which it is to be brought forth; -- specifically designated by the part which first appears at the mouth of the uterus; as, a breech presentation. Presentation copy, a copy of a book, engraving, etc., presented to some one by the author…

, a preternatural appearance; a preternatural stillness; a preternatural presentation (in childbirth) or labor. This vile and preternatural temper of mind. South.

esteem, or of arrogant and presumptuous confidence, as beauty, ornament, noble character, children, etc. Lofty trees yclad with summer's pride. Spenser. I will cut off the pride of the Philistines. Zech. ix. 6. A bold peasantry, their country's pride. Goldsmith.

A small elementary book for teaching children to read; a reading or spelling book for a beginner. As he sat in the school at his prymer. Chaucer.

A woman who bears a child for the first time.

The state of being the firstborn of the same parents; seniority by birth among children of the same family.

Descendants of the human kind, or offspring of other animals; children; offspring; race, lineage. " Issued from the progeny of kings." Shak.

In knowledge; in proficiency; as, the progress of a child at school.

citizen of the lowest class, who served the state, not with property, but only by having children; hence, a common person.

haucer. Moses . . . was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child. Heb. xi. 23.

king of Sweden are circumspect, industrious, and prospective, too, in this affair. Sir J. Child.

m danger or injury; to defend; to guard; to preserve in safety; as, a father protects his children. The gods of Greece protect you! Shak.

; as, to provide against the inclemency of the weather; to provide for the education of a child. Government is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants. Burke.