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To impose restraint upon; to limit in motion or action; to bind legally or morally; to confine; to restrain. We can not hold mortality's strong hand. Shak. Death! what do'st O,hold thy blow. Grashaw. He hat not sufficient judgment and self-command to hold his tongue. Macaulay.

of ability to reproduce one's species; want of age at which the marriage contract can be legally entered into.

Not capable of making a will; not legally qualified or competent to make a testament. Blackstone.

confined in prison. [Slang] - - Jail delivery, the release of prisoners from jail, either legally or by violence. -- Jail delivery commission. See under Gaol. -- Jail fever (Med.), typhus fever, or a disease resembling it, generated in jails and other places crowded with people; -- called also hospital fever, and shi…

to and try any matter of fact, and to render their true verdict according to the evidence legally adduced. See Grand jury under Grand, and Inquest. The jury, passing on the prisoner's life. Shak.

A contrivance or maneuvering to catch game illegally.

s descended from Raleigh's lost colony of Croatan, formerly classed with negroes, are now legally recognized as distinct.

An exception taken against a plaintiff in a cause, when he is unable legally to commence a suit.

One legally empowered to make quest of certain matters, esp. of abuses of weights and measures. Specifically:

under a defective title, to his rights under some valid title by virtue of which he might legally have entered into possession only by suit. Bouvier.

Legally required to be returned, delivered, given, or rendered; as, a writ or precept returnable at a certain day; a verdict returnable to the court.

e enemy's property or for articles contraband of war. -- Search warrant (Law), a warrant legally issued, authorizing an examination or search of a house, or other place, for goods stolen, secreted, or concealed.

A low public house; especially, a place where spirits and other excisable liquors are illegally and privately sold. [Ireland]

ed States, a denomination of money, differing in value in different States. It is not now legally recognized.

In the western United States, one who settles on government land before it is legally open to settlement in order to gain the prior claim that the law gives to the first settler when the land is opened to settlement; hence, any one who does a thing prematurely or anticipates another in acting in order to gain an unfair…

A weight which legally is fourteen pounds, but in practice varies with the article weighed. [Eng.]

That may be legally charged by a court against the plaintiff of defendant in a suit; as, taxable costs. -- Tax"a*ble*ness, n. -- Tax"a*bly, adv.

Conformably to law; legally; legitimately. His innocent babe [is] truly begotten. Shak.

A person to whom property is legally committed in trust, to be applied either for the benefit of specified individuals, or for public uses; one who is intrusted with property for the benefit of another; also, a person in whose hands the effects of another are attached in a trustee process. Trustee process (Law), a proc…

High-grade stock in which trust funds may be legally invested. [Colloq.]