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general tendency is to regard as socialistic any interference undertaken by society on behalf of the poor, . . . radical social reform which disturbs the present system of private property . . . The tendency of the present socialism is more and more to ally itself with the most advanced democracy. Encyc. Brit. We cert…

The art of making songs or verse; metrical composition; versification. A half-effected inscription. Written with little skill of songcraft. Longfellow.

y soothfastness." Chaucer. Why do not you . . . bear leal and soothfast evidence in her behalf, as ye may with a clear conscience! Sir W. Scott.

st man, is able to speak for himself, when a knave is not. Shak. During the century and a half which followed the Conquest, there is, to speak strictly, no English history. Macaulay.

Not speaking for a time; dumb; mute; silent. Speechless with wonder, and half dead with fear. Addison. -- Speech"less*ly, adv. -- Speech"less*ness, n.

A fusible white cast iron containing a large amount of carbon (from three and a half to six per cent) and some manganese. When the manganese reaches twenty-five per cent and upwards it has a granular structure, and constitutes the alloy ferro manganese, largely used in the manufacture of Bessemer steel. Called also spe…

An act or engagement on behalf of a state, by an agent not specially authorized for the purpose, or by one who exceeds the limits of authority.

A kind of half-pike, or halberd, formerly borne by inferior officers of the British infantry, and used in giving signals to the soldiers.

icket. S. Judd (Margaret). If I'm not so large as you, You are not so small as I, And not half so spry. Emerson.

A curved piece of timber serving as a half to support the deck where a whole beam can not be placed. Spur fowl (Zoöl.), any one of several species of Asiatic gallinaceous birds of the genus Galloperdix, allied to the jungle fowl. The males have two or more spurs on each leg. -- Spur gear (Mach.), a cogwheel having tee…

square; hence, a square body of troops; a body of troops drawn up in a square. [R.] Those half-rounding quards Just met, and, closing, stood in squadron joined. Milton.

A square. See 1st Squire. [Obs.] Not the worst of the three but jumps twelve foot and a half by the squier. Shak.

One who is half squire and half farmer; -- used humorously. [Eng.] C. Kingsley.

A half-penny. [Obs.] au. & Fl.

le, rod, or perch. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.] Swift. Stang ball, a projectile consisting of two half balls united by a bar; a bar shot. See Illust. of Bar shot, under Bar. -- To ride the stang, to be carried on a pole on men's shoulders. This method of punishing wife beaters, etc., was once in vogue in some parts of England…

Half blind.

of woolen cap; -- so called because enjoined to be worn by a statute, dated in 1571, in behalf of the trade of cappers. [Obs.] Halliwell. -- Statute fair. See Statute, n., 3, above. -- Statute labor, a definite amount of labor required for the public service in making roads, bridges, etc., as in certain English colon…

in composition and properties between wrought iron and cast iron (containing between one half of one per cent and one and a half per cent of carbon), and consisting of an alloy of iron with an iron carbide. Steel, unlike wrought iron, can be tempered, and retains magnetism. Its malleability decreases, and fusibility i…

et blows of love. Sir P. Sidney. Steely iron, a compound of iron containing less than one half of one per cent of carbon.

A change of position effected by a motion of translation. W. K. Clifford. Back step, Half step, etc. See under Back, Half, etc. -- Step grate, a form of grate for holding fuel, in which the bars rise above one another in the manner of steps. -- To take steps, to take action; to move in a matter.