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Incursion; sudden attack; especially, hostile invasion from sea; - - often followed by upon or on; as, to make a descent upon the enemy. The United Provinces . . . ordered public prayer to God, when they feared that the French and English fleets would make a descent upon their coasts. Jortin.

A bending downward; a sloping; incurvation downward; declivity. [R.] Davies (Wit's Pilgr.)

holic Church, exemption from some ecclesiastical law or obligation to God which a man has incurred of his own free will (oaths, vows, etc.). A dispensation was obtained to enable Dr. Barrow to marry. Ward.

s to exhibit the structure; an anatomical so prepared. Dissection wound, a poisoned wound incurred during the dissection of a dead body.

to disorder; to disease. Shak. The imagination, when completely distempered, is the most incurable of all disordered faculties. Buckminster.

under Louis XIV., by an armed force, usually of dragoons; hence, a rapid and devastating incursion; dragoonade. He learnt it as he watched the dragonnades, the tortures, the massacres of the Netherlands. C. Kingsley.

by the unlawful restrain of his liberty or by actual or threatened physical violence, to incur a civil liability or to commit an offense.

To incur the hazard of; to risk. [Obs.] He that turneth the humors back . . . endangereth malign ulcers. Bacon.

Apprehension of incurring, or solicitude to avoid, God's wrath; the trembling and awful reverence felt toward the Supreme Belng.

lient points in a national boundary, strengthened to protect the frontier against hostile incursion. -- Flank patrol, detachments acting independently of the column of an army, but patrolling along its flanks, to secure it against surprise and to observe the movements of the enemy.

A sudden or irregular incursion in border warfare; hence, any irregular incursion for war or spoils; a raid. Spenser. The huge Earl Doorm, . . . Bound on a foray, rolling eyes of prey. Tennyson.

One who incurs a penalty of forfeiture.

To incur a penalty; to transgress. [Obs.] And all this suffered our Lord Jesus Christ that never forfeted. Chaucer.

To get, incur, or receive, as loss, harm, or damage. [Obs. or Ironical] Ye should . . . not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss. Acts xxvii. 21. Gained day, the calendar day gained in sailing eastward around the earth. -- To gain ground, to make progress; to advance in any undertaking; to pre…

lacious; valid; in a commercial sense, to be depended on for the discharge of obligations incurred; having pecuniary ability; of unimpaired credit. My reasons are both good and weighty. Shak. My meaning in saying he is a good man is . . . that he is sufficient . . . I think I may take his bond. Shak.…

Exposure to any legal penalty or forfeiture. A ship incurs guilt by the violation of a blockade. Kent.

Having incurred guilt; criminal; morally delinquent; wicked; chargeable with, or responsible for, something censurable; justly exposed to penalty; -- used with of, and usually followed by the crime, sometimes by the punishment. They answered and said, He is guilty of death. Matt. xxvi. 66. Nor he, nor you, were guilty…

A name given to several different grasses, especially to the Roltböllia incurvata, and to the species of Ægilops, from one of which it is contended that wheat has been derived.

To make a predatory incursion; to plunder or lay waste. [Obs.] Beau. & Fl.

To venture to incur, or bring on. I hazarded the loss of whom I loved. Shak. They hazard to cut their feet. Landor.