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Smallness; meagerness; slenderness; fineness, thinness. [R.] Paley.

o wish success to; to be propitious to; to countenance; to treat with consideration or tenderness; to show partiality or unfair bias towards. O happy youth! and favored of the skies. Pope. He that favoreth Joab, . . . let him go after Joab. 2 Sam. xx. 11. [The painter] has favored her squint admirably. Swift.…

a feeling of pride or of humility. A fellow feeling makes one wondrous kind. Garrick. Tenderness for the feelings of others. Macaulay.

ging to an individual of the female sex; characteristic of woman; feminine; as, female tenderness. "Female usurpation.'b8 Milton. To the generous decision of a female mind, we owe the discovery of America. Belknap.

upply fully with food; to feed; to satisfy. Whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness, as to fillso great a multitude Matt. xv. 33. Things that are sweet and fat are more filling. Bacon.

In a good sense, tenderness of feeling; gentleness. There is no flesh in man's obdurate heart. Cowper.

clear, soft note, like that of a flute. Knaves are men, That lute and flute fantastic tenderness. Tennyson. The redwing flutes his o-ka-lee. Emerson.

To treat or handle with tenderness or in a loving manner; to caress; as, a nurse fondles a child.

The act of caressing; manifestation of tenderness. Cyrus made no . . . amorous fondling To fan her pride, or melt her guardless heart. Mickle.

Cautiousness; tenderness.

ith traitors." J. H. Newman. -- To handle without gloves, to treat without reserve or tenderness; to deal roughly with. [Colloq.] -- To take up the glove, to accept a challenge or adopt a quarrel. -- To throw down the glove, to challenge to combat.

State of being gracilent; slenderness. Milman. "Youthful gracility." W. D. Howells.

Tenderness or stiffness in the foot of a horse, which causes him to move in a hobbling manner.

Clear space under an arch, girder, and the like, sufficient to allow of easy passing underneath.

A grave, coffin, tomb, or sepulchral monument. [Archaic] "Underneath this marble hearse." B. Johnson. Beside the hearse a fruitful palm tree grows. Fairfax Who lies beneath this sculptured hearse. Longfellow.

Wild howled the wind. Sir W. Scott. Howling monkey. (Zoöl.) See Howler, 2. -- Howling wilderness, a wild, desolate place inhabited only by wild beasts. Deut. xxxii. 10.

o relieve persons or animals in distress, and to treat all creatures with kindness and tenderness. "The common offices of humanity and friendship." Locke.

Not clement; destitute of a mild and kind temper; void of tenderness; unmerciful; severe; harsh.

Not compassionate; void of pity or of tenderness; remorseless. -- In`com*pas"sion*ate*ly, adv. -- In`com*pas"sion*ate*ness, n.

Lower in place, rank, excellence, etc.; less important or valuable; subordinate; underneath; beneath. A thousand inferior and particular propositions. I. Watts. The body, or, as some love to call it, our inferior nature. Burke. Whether they are equal or inferior to my other poems, an author is the most improper judge.…