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Whatever is arranged to drop, hang, or fall from an elevated position; also, a contrivance for lowering something; as:

To be suffocated in water or other fluid; to perish in water. Methought, what pain it was to drown. Shak.

Characterized by a quality somewhat severe, grave, or hard; hence, sharp; keen; shrewd; quaint; as, a dry tone or manner; dry wit. He was rather a dry, shrewd kind of body. W. Irving.

tracts to pay, or do, to or for another; that which belongs or may be claimed as a right; whatever custom, law, or morality requires to be done; a fee; a toll. He will give the devil his due. Shak. Yearly little dues of wheat, and wine, and oil. Tennyson.

Quality of being due; debt; what is due or becoming. T. Goodwin.

Somewhat dull; uninteresting; tiresome. "A series of dullish verses." Prof. Wilson.

A sham package in a shop, or one which does not contain what its exterior indicates.

Somewhat like a dunce. [R.] -- Dun"cish*ness, n. [R.]

Somewhat dusky. " Duskish smoke." Spenser. -- Dusk"ish*ly, adv. -- Dusk"ish*ness, n.

compensation or wages; as, to earn a good living; to earn honors or laurels. I earn that [what] I eat. Shak. The bread I have earned by the hazard of my life or the sweat of my brow. Burke. Earned run (Baseball), a run which is made without the assistance of errors on the opposing side.

e heed that this jest do not one day turn to earnest. Sir P. Sidney. And given in earnest what I begged in jest. Shak. In earnest, serious; seriously; not in jest; earnestly.

Of all things on earth; possible; conceivable. What earthly benefit can be the result Pope.

of style, of behavior, of address. True ease in writing comes from art, not chance. Pope. Whate'er he did was done with so much ease, In him alone 't was natural to please. Dryden. At ease, free from pain, trouble, or anxiety. "His soul shall dwell at ease." Ps. xxv. 12. -- Chapel of ease. See under Chapel. -- Ill at…

distinct from the ownership of the soil, as a way, water course, etc. It is a species of what the civil law calls servitude. Kent.

ve use). "Eat of the bread that can not waste." Keble. -- To eat one's words, to retract what one has said. (See the Citation under Blurt.) -- To eat out, to consume completely. "Eat out the heart and comfort of it." Tillotson. -- To eat the wind out of a vessel (Naut.), to gain slowly to windward of her.…

To stand under the eaves, near a window or at the door, of a house, to listen and learn what is said within doors; hence, to listen secretly to what is said in private. To eavesdrop in disguises. Milton.

ouses, and other places where persons meet fro private intercourse, secretly listening to what is said, and then tattling it abroad. The offense is indictable at common law. Wharton.

To make clear; to clear up what is obscure or not understood; to explain.

Selecting; choosing (what is true or excellent in doctrines, opinions, etc.) from various sources or systems; as, an eclectic philosopher.

edification of his church. Bp. Hall. Out of these magazines I shall supply the town with what may tend to their edification. Addison.