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To fail suddenly and completely, like something hollow when subject to too much pressure; to undergo a collapse; as, Maximilian's government collapsed soon after the French army left Mexico; many financial projects collapse after attaining some success and importance.

To circumvent; to wheedle. [Colloq.] -- To come short, to be deficient; to fail of attaining. "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Rom. iii. 23. -- To come to. (a) To consent or yield. Swift. (b) (Naut.) (with the accent on to) To luff; to brin the ship's head nearer the wind; to anchor. (c) (with the…

erred to. Whatever, in my reading, occurs concerning this our fellow creature, I do never fail to set it down by way of commonplace. Swift. Commonplace book, a book in which records are made of things to be remembered.

r is entitled to partake of, the sacrament of the Lord's supper; a church member. A never-failing monthly communicant. Atterbury.

combine or associate so as to make intricate or difficult. Nor can his complicated sinews fail. Young. Avarice and luxury very often become one complicated principle of action. Addison. When the disease is complicated with other diseases. Arbuthnot.

ed on compromise and barter. Burke. An abhorrence of concession and compromise is a never failing characteristic of religious factions. Hallam.

a condition of remaining in one's class or in college; as, to condition a student who has failed in some branch of study.

that her enemies do at all appertain to the church of Christ Hooker. A whole sentence may fail of its congruity by wanting one particle. Sir P. Sidney.

Intentional failure or forbearance to discover a fault or wrongdoing; voluntary oversight; passive consent or co

To close the eyes upon a fault; to wink (at); to fail or forbear by intention to discover an act; to permit a proceeding, as if not aware of it; -- usually followed by at. To connive at what it does not approve. Jer. Taylor. In many of these, the directors were heartily concurring; in most of them, they were encouragin…

To yield a duplicate or transcript; as, the letter did not copy well. Some . . . never fail, when they copy, to follow the bad as well as the good things. Dryden.

high polish. McElrath. -- To catch a crab (Naut.), a phrase used of a rower: (a) when he fails to raise his oar clear of the water; (b) when he misses the water altogether in making a stroke.

To be ruined or impaired; to fail. [Collog.] The credit . . . of exchequers cracks, when little comes in and much goes out. Dryden.

Ruin; failure; sudden breaking down, as of a business house or a commercial enterprise.

and shower down their ill nature. I. Watts. You know who the critics are the men who have failed in literature and art. Beaconsfield.

A fall on one's head when riding at full speed, as in hunting; hence, a sudden failure or collapse. [Slang.]

The failure of a college officer or student to be present at any appointed exercise. [College Cant]

Bacon. How many a day has been damped and darkened by an angry word! Sir J. Lubbock. The failure of his enterprise damped the spirit of the soldiers. Macaulay.

Dead freight (Mar. Law), a sum of money paid by a person who charters a whole vessel but fails to make out a full cargo. The payment is made for the unoccupied capacity. Abbott. -- Dead ground (Mining), the portion of a vein in which there is no ore. -- Dead hand, a hand that can not alienate, as of a person civilly…

erson who is deaf and dumb; one who, through deprivation or defect of hearing, has either failed the acquire the power of speech, or has lost it. [See Illust. of Dactylology.] Deaf-mutes are still so called, even when, by artificial methods, they have been taught to speak imperfectly.