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An inscription, motto, or title, esp. one surrounding the field in a medal or coin, or placed upon an heraldic shield or beneath an engraving or illustration. Golden legend. See under Golden.

genuine; not false, counterfeit, or spurious; as, legitimate poems of Chaucer; legitimate inscriptions.

A writing; an inscription. [Obs.] None could expound what this letter meant. Chaucer.

f black basalt, found at Dibon in Moab by Rev. F. A. Klein, Aug. 19, 1868, which bears an inscription of thirty-four lines, dating from the 9th century b. c., and written in the Moabite alphabet, the oldest Phonician type of the Semitic alphabet. It records the victories of Mesha, king of Moab, esp. those over Israel (…

etc.; as, the Washington monument; the Bunker Hill monument. Also, a tomb, with memorial inscriptions. On your family's old monument Hang mournful epitaphs, and do all rites That appertain unto a burial. Shak.

Of, pertaining to, or suitable for, a monument; as, a monumental inscription.

Not easily understood; not clear or legible; abstruse or blind; as, an obscure passage or inscription.

The face of a coin which has the principal image or inscription upon it; -- the other side being the reverse.

A particular kind of writing practiced by the ancient Irish, and found in inscriptions on stones, metals, etc. [Written also ogam.]

The study of ancient inscriptions and modes of writing; the art or science of deciphering ancient writings, and determining their origin, period, etc., from external characters; diplomatics.

The art or operation of carving figures or inscriptions on rock or stone.

n apprehension or experience. Many coincidences . . . soon begin to appear in them [Greek inscriptions] which realize ancient history to us. Jowett. We can not realize it in thought, that the object . . . had really no being at any past moment. Sir W. Hamilton.

To preserve the memory of, by committing to writing, to printing, to inscription, or the like; to make note of; to write or enter in a book or on parchment, for the purpose of preserving authentic evidence of; to register; to enroll; as, to record the proceedings of a court; to record historical events. Those things th…

A stone found at Rosetta, in Egypt, bearing a trilingual inscription, by aid of which, with other inscriptions, a key was obtained to the hieroglyphics of ancient Egypt. Brande & C.

on his tongue, As on the warrior's sword. Longfellow. Rune stone, a stone bearing a runic inscription.

Of or pertaining to Sanskrit; written in Sanskrit; as, a Sanskrit dictionary or inscription.

Anything written; a writing; a document; an inscription. I have put it in scripture and in remembrance. Chaucer. Then the Lord of Manny read the scripture on the tomb, the which was in Latin. Ld. Berners.

, or to monuments erected to the memory of the dead; as, a sepulchral stone; a sepulchral inscription.

brous part alone remaining. -- Skeleton proof, a proof of a print or engraving, with the inscription outlined in hair strokes only, such proofs being taken before the engraving is finished. -- Skeleton regiment, a regiment which has its complement of officers, but in which there are few enlisted men. -- Skeleton shr…

The art of making songs or verse; metrical composition; versification. A half-effected inscription. Written with little skill of songcraft. Longfellow.