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Wearisome; tedious; disagreeable or troublesome by reason of long continuance or repetition; as, irksome hours; irksome tasks. For not to irksome toil, but to delight, He made us. Milton.

Inducing cause or occasion, especially of anything disagreeable or distressing; difficulty; trouble. And this is the matter why interpreters upon that passage in Hosea will not consent it to be a true story, that the prophet took a harlot to wife. Milton.

A disagreeable mixture or confusion of things; hence, a situation resulting from blundering or from misunderstanding; as, he made a mess of it. [Colloq.]

ce, moderate in degree or quality; -- the opposite of harsh, severe, irritating, violent, disagreeable, etc.; -- applied to persons and things; as, a mild disposition; a mild eye; a mild air; a mild medicine; a mild insanity. The rosy morn resigns her light And milder glory to the noon. Waller. Adore him as a mild and…

c. Sometimes applied to other shells similarly marked. -- To face the music, to meet any disagreeable necessity without flinching. [Colloq. or Slang]

Hence, loosely: Offensive; disagreeable; unpropitious; wet; drizzling; as, a nasty rain, day, sky.

ug (Zoöl.), a minute black bug common on the raspberry and blackberry. It produced a very disagreeable flavor. -- negro corn, the Indian millet or durra; -- so called in the West Indies. see Durra. McElrath. -- Negro fly (Zoöl.), a black dipterous fly (Psila rosæ) which, in the larval state, is injurious to carrots;…

Annoying; disagreeable. [Obs.] Watch the noyous night, and wait for Spenser.

Causing or provoking hatred, repugnance, or disgust; offensive; disagreeable; repulsive; as, an odious sight; an odious smell. Milton. The odious side of that polity. Macaulay.

Giving pain or unpleasant sensations; disagreeable; revolting; noxious; as, an offensive smell; offensive sounds. "Offensive to the stomach." Bacon.

Having a strong, disagreeable smell; fetid. [Obs.] Boyle. Sir T. Browne.

A colorless gas, PH3, analogous to ammonia, and having a disagreeable odor resembling that of garlic. Called also hydrogen phosphide, and formerly, phosphureted hydrogen.

p, obtained as a white, or yellowish, translucent waxy substance, having a characteristic disagreeable smell. It is very active chemically, must be preserved under water, and unites with oxygen even at ordinary temperatures, giving a faint glow, -- whence its name. It always occurs compined, usually in phosphates, as i…

A troublesome child; as, a little pickle. [Colloq.] To be in a pickle, to be in disagreeable position; to be in a condition of embarrassment, difficulty, or disorder. "How cam'st thou in this pickle" Shak. -- To put a rod in pickle, to prepare a particular reproof, punishment, or penalty for future application.…

Weasel family (Putorius foetidus). Its scent glands secrete a substance of an exceedingly disagreeable odor. Called also fitchet, foulmart, and European ferret.

Hence, harsh and disagreeable to the ear; dissonant. [R.] "A ragged noise of mirth." Herbert.

The act of retiring or withdrawing one's self, especially from what is dangerous or disagreeable. In a retreat he oShak.

or one of the organs of sense; a feeling, or state of consciousness, whether agreeable or disagreeable, produced either by an external object (stimulus), or by some change in the internal state of the body. Perception is only a special kind of knowledge, and sensation a special kind of feeling. . . . Knowledge and feel…

fashion; to establish the mode. -- To set the teeth on edge, to affect the teeth with a disagreeable sensation, as when acids are brought in contact with them. -- To set the watch (Naut.), to place the starboard or port watch on duty. -- To set to, to attach to; to affix to. "He . . . hath set to his seal that God…

foot;- said of a horse. See Single-foot. Many very fleet horses, when overdriven, adopt a disagreeable gait, which seems to be a cross between a pace and a trot, in which the two legs of one side are raised almost but not quite, simultaneously. Such horses are said to single, or to be single-footed. W. S. Clark.…