Search the Dictionary

sometimes, for the sake of its fragrance, mixed with smoking tobacco, when it is said to occasion vertigo and intoxication.

Coming without regularity; occasional; incidental; as, casual expenses. A constant habit, rather than a casual gesture. Hawthorne.

Without design; accidentally; fortuitously; by chance; occasionally.

Any injury of the body from accident; hence, death, or other misfortune, occasioned by an accident; as, an unhappy casualty.

An event; an occurrence; an occasion; a combination of circumstances; a case; an act of God. See the Note under Accident. Casus belli, an event or combination of events which is a cause war, or may be alleged as a justification of war. -- Casus fortuitus, an accident against which due prudence could not have provided.…

sp. to take by sympathy, contagion, infection, or exposure; as, to catch the spirit of an occasion; to catch the measles or smallpox; to catch cold; the house caught fire.

That which is the occasion of an action or state; ground; reason; motive; as, cause for rejoicing.

Native strontium sulphate, a mineral so named from its occasional delicate blue color. It occurs crystallized, also in compact massive and fibrous forms.

oman Catholic church, or the book containing the rules presribed to be observed on solemn occasions.

er who determines the forms to be observed, or superintends their observance, on a public occasion. -- Not to stand on ceremony, not to be ceremonious; to be familiar, outspoken, or bold.

essed and carried under the arm without injury. Such hats were particularly worn on dress occasions by gentlemen in the 18th century. A chapeau bras is now worn in the United States army by general and staff officers.

s on heated stones, between layers of seaweed; hence, a picnic party, gathered on such an occasion.

A short, comprehensive prayer, adapted to a particular day, occasion, or condition, and forming part of a liturgy. The noble poem on the massacres of Piedmont is strictly a collect in verse. Macaulay.

s compliments; to use conventional expressions of respect. I make the interlocutors, upon occasion, compliment with one another. Boyle.

That which must exist as the occasion or concomitant of something else; that which is requisite in order that something else should take effect; an essential qualification; stipulation; terms specified. I had as lief take her dowry with this condition, to be whipped at the high cross every morning. Shak. Many are apt t…

Giving occasion for confidence. [R.] The cause was more confident than the event was prosperious. Jer. Taylor.

The customary act of civility on any occasion; a bow or a courtesy.

e. It is regarded as a derivative of piperidine and likewise of one of the collidines. It occasions a gradual paralysis of the motor nerves. Called also coniine, coneine, conia, etc. See Conium, 2.

times commanding; in all they were conniving. Burke. The government thought it expedient, occasionally, to connive at the violation of this rule. Macaulay.

[Obs., exept as used reflexively.] The king's person contains the unruly people from evil occasions. Spenser. Fear not, my lord: we can contain ourselves. Shak.