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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.

Incapable of slipping, or of error. [R.] Morally immutable and illapsable. Glanvill.

conformed to a standard or rule; not satisfying the taste or conscience; esthetically or morally defective. Nothing imperfect or deficient left Of all that he created. Milton. Then say not man's imperfect, Heaven in fault; Say rather, man's as perfect as he ought. Pope. Imperfect arch, an arch of less than a semicircle…

Not capable of being brought to do or perform, because morally strong or well disposed; -- used with reference to some evil; as, incapable of wrong, dishonesty, or falsehood.

Incapable of being bribed or morally corrupted; inflexibly just and upright.

That which is morally incumbent, or is imposed, as a rule, a duty, obligation, or responsibility. "The incumbencies of a family." Donne.

That which taints or corrupts morally; as, the infection of vicious principles. It was her chance to light Amidst the gross infections of those times. Daniel.

The state or quality of being morally free from guilt or sin; purity of heart; blamelessness. The silence often of pure innocence Persuades when speaking fails. Shak. Banished from man's life his happiest life, Simplicity and spotless innocence! Milton.

Morally free from guilt; guiltless; not tainted with sin; pure; upright. To offer up a weak, poor, innocent lamb. Shak. I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. Matt. xxvii. 4. The aidless,innocent lady, his wished prey. Milton.

To explain or tell the meaning of; to expound; to translate orally into intelligible or familiar language or terms; to decipher; to define; -- applied esp. to language, but also to dreams, signs, conduct, mysteries, etc.; as, to interpret the Hebrew language to an Englishman; to interpret an Indian speech. Emmanuel, wh…

hich interprets, explains, or expounds; a translator; especially, a person who translates orally between two parties. We think most men's actions to be the interpreters of their thoughts. Locke.

Figuratively, anything which enlightens intellectually or morally; anything regarded metaphorically a performing the uses of a lamp. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. Ps. cxix. 105. Ages elapsed ere Homer's lamp appeared. Cowper.

Ruined or destroyed, either physically or morally; past help or hope; as, a ship lost at sea; a woman lost to virtue; a lost soul.

An application made to a court or judge orally in open court. Its object is to obtain an order or rule directing some act to be done in favor of the applicant. Mozley & W.

To be morally required; to be necessary or essential to a certain quality, character, end, or result; as, he must reconsider the matter; he must have been insane. Likewise must the deacons be grave. 1 Tim. iii. 8. Morover, he [a bishop] must have a good report of them which are without. 1 Tim. iii. 7.…

To speak with another; to confer on some point of mutual concern; to discuss orally; hence, specifically, to confer orally with an enemy; to treat with him by words, as on an exchange of prisoners, an armistice, or terms of peace. They are at hand, To parley or to fight; therefore prepare. Shak.

Hence: Mischievous; noxious; pernicious; morally destructive. So pestilential, so infectious a thing is sin. Jer. Taylor.

In a physical manner; according to the laws of nature or physics; by physical force; not morally. I am not now treating physically of light or colors. Locke.

previous restraint or censorship, subject only to punishment for libelous, seditious, or morally pernicious matters. -- Press bed, a bed that may be folded, and inclosed, in a press or closet. Boswell. -- Press of sail, (Naut.), as much sail as the state of the wind will permit.

y that the principles of religion are merely probable; I have before asserted them to be morally certain. Bp. Wilkins.