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solely by the force of gravity, will reach another given point in a shorter time than it could by any other path. This curve of quickest descent, as it is sometimes called, is, in a vacuum, the same as the cycloid.

A boaster. O, I could play the woman with mine eyes, And braggart with my tongue. Shak.

A plate of metal covering the breast as defensive armor. Before his old rusty breastplate could be scoured, and his cracked headpiece mended. Swift.

, to bridge a river. Their simple engineering bridged with felled trees the streams which could not be forded. Palfrey.

o put up with; to tolerate; as, young men can not brook restraint. Spenser. Shall we, who could not brook one lord, Crouch to the wicked ten Macaulay.

to strive; to contend. If I might buffet for my love, or bound my horse for her favors, I could lay on like a butcher. Shak.

bundle of old clothes. The fable of the rods, which, when united in a bundle, no strength could bend. Goldsmith. Bundle pillar (Arch.), a column or pier, with others of small dimensions attached to it. Weale.

tly; to suppress; to smother; to shelve; as, to burke a parliamentary question. The court could not burke an inquiry, supported by such a mass of a affidavits. C. Reade.

Except with; unless with; without. [Obs.] So insolent that he could not go but either spurning equals or trampling on his inferiors. Fuller. Touch not the cat but a glove. Motto of the Mackintoshes.

A hood, formerly worn by ladies, which could be drawn forward or thrown back like the top of a carriage.

eful to do right. Thou hast been careful for us with all this care. 2. Kings iv, 13. What could a careful father more have done Dryden.

make or draw a caricature of; to represent with ridiculous exaggeration; to burlesque. He could draw an ill face, or caricature a good one, with a masterly hand. Lord Lyttelton.

To take or make, as by cutting; to provide. Who could easily have carved themselves their own food. South.

ed as a justification of war. -- Casus fortuitus, an accident against which due prudence could not have provided. See Act of God, under Act. -- Casus omissus, a case not provided for by the statute.

ed; an enumeration by the summa genera i.e., the most extensive classes into which things could be distributed. J. S. Mill.

; viands; especially, luxurious food; delicacies; dainties. Shak. Cates for which Apicius could not pay. Shurchill. Choicest cates and the fiagon's best spilth. R. Browning.

spells, charms, or supernatural influences; as, a charmed life. I, in my own woe charmed, Could not find death. Shak.

buff. Useful check upon the administration of government. Washington. A man whom no check could abash. Macaulay.

To utter a shout or shouts of applause, triumph, etc. And even the ranks of Tusculum Could scare forbear to cheer. Macaulay.

To use figures in a mathematical process; to do sums in arithmetic. "T was certain he could write and cipher too. Goldsmith.