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A school for young children, conducted on the theory that education should be begun by gratifying and cultivating the normal aptitude for exercise, play, observation, imitation, and construction; -- a name given by Friedrich Froebel, a German educator, who introduced this method of training, in rooms opening on a garde…

Gratifying a depraved sense; obscene. [R.] Steele. -- Lus"cious*ly, adv. -- Lus"cious*ness, n.

Pleasing; agreeable; gratifying; delightful; good; as, a nice party; a nice excursion; a nice person; a nice day; a nice sauce, etc. [Loosely & Colloquially] To make nice of, to be scrupulous about. [Obs.] Shak.

nd by some favor rendered; to place under a debt; hence, to do a favor to; to please; to gratify; to accommodate. Thus man, by his own strength, to heaven would soar, And would not be obliged to God for more. Dryden. The gates before it are brass, and the whole much obliged to Pope Urban VIII. Evelyn. I shall be more o…

To seal; to ratify. [Obs.] Barrow.

The act of sealing or ratifying; the state of being sealed or confirmed; confirmation, as by the Holy Spirit. The spirit of manifestation will but upbraid you in the shame and horror of a sad eternity, if you have not the spirit of obsignation. Jer. Taylor.

Ratifying; confirming by sealing. [Obs.] Samuel Ward (1643)

To make excessively joyful; to gratify extremely.

To gratify inordinately; to indulge to excess; as, to pamper pride; to pamper the imagination. South.

n ordeal, examination, or action; specifically, to give legal or official sanction to; to ratify; to enact; to approve as valid and just; as, he passed the bill through the committee; the senate passed the law.

To give pleasure to; to excite agreeable sensations or emotions in; to make glad; to gratify; to content; to satisfy. I pray to God that it may plesen you. Chaucer. What next I bring shall please thee, be assured. Milton.

Capable of affording pleasure or satisfaction; gratifying; abounding in pleasantness or pleasantry. Planting of orchards is very . . . pleasurable. Bacon. O, sir, you are very pleasurable. B. Jonson. -- Pleas"ur*a*ble*ness, n. -- Pleas"ur*a*bly, adv.

What the will dictates or prefers as gratifying or satisfying; hence, will; choice; wish; purpose. "He will do his pleasure on Babylon." Isa. xlviii. 14. Use your pleasure; if your love do not presuade you to come, let not my letter. Shak.

To ratify. [Obs.] "To rate the truce." Chapman. To rate a chronometer, to ascertain the exact rate of its gain or loss as compared with true time, so as to make an allowance or computation depended thereon.

The act of ratifying; the state of being ratified; confirmation; sanction; as, the ratification of a treaty.

to refresh after wearying toil or anxiety; to relieve; to cheer; to divert; to amuse; to gratify. Painters, when they work on white grounds, place before them colors mixed with blue and green, to recreate their eyes, white wearying . . . the sight more than any. Dryden. St. John, who recreated himself with sporting wit…

Capable of being relished; agreeable to the taste; gratifying.

To promote the welfare and safety of; to benefit; to gratify. [Obs.] "If this salute my blood a jot." Shak.

To give sanction to; to ratify; to confirm; to approve. Would have counseled, or even sanctioned, such perilous experiments. De Quincey.

To full beyond matural desire; to gratify to repletion or loathing; to surfeit; to glut.