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pose of making reprisals. Letters of marque, Letters of marque and reprisal, a license or extraordinary commission granted by a government to a private person to fit out a privateer or armed ship to cruise at sea and make prize of the enemy's ships and merchandise. The ship so commissioned is sometimes called a letter…

Anything done or made with extraordinary skill; a capital performance; a chef-d'oeuvre; a supreme achievement. The top and masterpiece of art. South. Dissimulation was his masterpiece. Claredon.

The art of inducing an extraordinary or abnormal state of the nervous system, in which the actor claims to control the actions, and communicate directly with the mind, of the recipient. See Animal magnetism, under Magnetism.

Accomplished by might; hence, extraordinary; wonderful. "His mighty works." Matt. xi. 20.

A course of extraordinary sermons and services at a particular place and time for the special purpose of quickening the faith and zeal participants, and of converting unbelievers. Addis & Arnold.

Extraordinary in a way to excite wonder, dislike, apprehension, etc.; -- said of size, appearance, color, sound, etc.; as, a monstrous height; a monstrous ox; a monstrous story.

The state or quality of being monstrous, unusual, extraordinary. Shak.

The quality or state of being munificent; a giving or bestowing with extraordinary liberality; generous bounty; lavish generosity. The virtues of liberality and munificence. Addison.

d by a vow to lave the hair uncut, to abstain from wine and strong drink, and to practice extraordinary purity of life and devotion, the obligation being for life, or for a certain time. The word is also used adjectively.

A person or thing of a sort that there is no other such; something extraordinary; a thing that has not its equal. It is given as a name to various objects, as to a choice variety of apple, a species of medic (Medicago lupulina), a variety of pottery clay, etc.

An extraordinary nova which appeared in Perseus in 1901. It was first sighted on February 22, and for one night (February 23) was the brightest star in the sky. By July it had almost disappeared, after which faint surrounding nebulous masses were discovered, apparently moving radially outward from the star at incredibl…

Par`si*mo"ni*ous*ness, n. A prodigal king is nearer a tyrant than a parsimonious. Bacon. Extraordinary funds for one campaign may spare us the expense of many years; whereas a long, parsimonious war will drain us of more men and money. Addison.

A priest who heard confession and enjoined penance in extraordinary cases. [Written also penitenser.] [Obs.] Chaucer.

Relating to, or of the nature of, a phenomenon; hence, extraordinary; wonderful; as, a phenomenal memory. -- Phe*nom"e*nal*ly, adv.

That which strikes one as strange, unusual, or unaccountable; an extraordinary or very remarkable person, thing, or occurrence; as, a musical phenomenon.

lf. See Pokeweed. -- Pigeon English Etym: [perhaps a corruption of business English], an extraordinary and grotesque dialect, employed in the commercial cities of China, as the medium of communication between foreign merchants and the Chinese. Its base is English, with a mixture of Portuguese and Hindoostanee. Johnson…

Weight; gravity; that which causes a body to descend; heaviness. "Weights of an extraordinary poise." Evelyn.

ive crystals (Opt.), a doubly refracting crystal in which the index of refraction for the extraordinary ray is greater than for the ordinary ray, and the former is refracted nearer to the axis than the latter, as quartz and ice; -- opposed to negative crystal, or one in which this characteristic is reversed, as Iceland…

ular course of things, but not clearly supernatural or miraculous; strange; inexplicable; extraordinary; uncommon; irregular; abnormal; as, a preternatural appearance; a preternatural stillness; a preternatural presentation (in childbirth) or labor. This vile and preternatural temper of mind. South.…

s thrown out of the field by total reflection from the internal cemented surface, and the extraordinary, or polarized, image alone is transmitted.