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of the walk, a chief or master; the hero of the hour; one who has overcrowed, or got the better of, rivals or competitors. -- Cock of the woods. See Capercailzie.

or move the will; constraining; conclusive; forcible; powerful; not easily reasisted. No better nor more cogent reason. Dr. H. More. Proofs of the most cogent description. Tyndall. The tongue whose strains were cogent as commands, Revered at home, and felt in foreign lands. Cowper.

ower to excite; dull; uninteresting. What a deal of cold business doth a man misspend the better part of life in! B. Jonson. The jest grows cold . . . when in comes on in a second scene. Addison.

ted, devout Christians, and zealous lovers of liberty. There was never a colony formed of better materials. Ames.

eir own land. By some authorities private international law rests on this comity, but the better opinion is that it is part of the common law of the land, and hence is obligatory as law.

Acquainted with manners and deportment; behaved. [Obs.] Till she be better conversationed, . . . I'll keep As far from her as the gallows. Beau. & Fl.

The act of correcting, or making that right which was wrong; change for the better; amendment; rectification, as of an erroneous statement. The due correction of swearing, rioting, neglect of God's word, and other scandalouss vices. Strype.

Strong desire. [R.] When workmen strive to do better than well, They do confound their skill in covetousness. Shak.

The top of the head, or the head itself. We will belabor you a little better, And beat a little more care into your coxcombs. Beau & Fl.

to reach forward with head and neck, in order to see better; as, a hunter cranes forward before taking a leap. Beaconsfield. Thackeray. The passengers eagerly craning forward over the bulwarks. Howells.

siness matters; hence, one to whom money is due; -- correlative to debtor. Creditors have better memories than debtors. Franklin.

Attentive care; homage; worship. Every one is convinced of the reality of a better self, and of. thecult or homage which is due to it. Shaftesbury.

ture attached to the pier of a birdge, with an angle or edge directed up stream, in order better to resist the action of water, ice, etc.; the sharpened upper end of the pier itself.

An age; a long period of time. Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay. Tennyson.

To furnish with defenses; to fortify. [Obs.] [Written also defence.] Better manned and more strongly defensed. Hales.

ense, as in fencing, boxing, etc. A man of great defense. Spenser. By how much defense is better than no skill. Shak.

gn or name of; to indicate; to point out; as, the hands of the clock denote the hour. The better to denote her to the doctor. Shak.

To make bad or worse; to vitiate; to corrupt. Whose pride depraves each other better part. Spenser.

ower state, from a higher to a lower state, from the more to the less important, from the better to the worse, etc.

To teach; to train. [Obs.] That better were in virtues discipled. Spenser.