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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



159 words match “RETAIN”

DISQUALIFICATION n.
lification of a person for office; sickness is a disqualification for labor. I must still retain the consciousness of those disqualifications which you have been pleased to overlook. Sir J. Shore.
DYAKS n.
The aboriginal and most numerous inhabitants of Borneo. They are partially civilized, but retain many barbarous practices.
EMBANKMENT n.
arth, gravel, etc., raised to prevent water from overflowing a level tract of country, to retain water in a reservoir, or to carry a roadway, etc.
EVERGREEN a.
Remaining unwithered through the winter, or retaining unwithered leaves until the leaves of the next year are expanded, as pines cedars, hemlocks, and the like.
FEDERAL a.
Composed of states or districts which retain only a subordinate and limited sovereignty, as the Union of the United States, or the Sonderbund of Switzerland.
FILE v.
le, on the part of the clerk, is to indorse upon the paper the date of its reception, and retain it in his office, subject to inspection by whomsoever it may concern. Burrill.
FIXED a.
nt about which any line of troops wheels. -- Fixed stars (Astron.), such stars as always retain nearly the same apparent position and distance with respect to each other, thus distinguished from planets and comets.
FLOSS n.
ilaments of silk, used in embroidering. Floss silk, silk that has been twisted, and which retains its loose and downy character. It is much used in embroidery. Called also floxed silk. -- Floss thread, a kind of soft flaxen yarn or thread, used for embroidery; -- called also linen floss, and floss yarn. McElrath.…
FOLLOWER n.
1. One who follows; a pursuer; an attendant; a disciple; a dependent associate; a retainer.
FOMES n.
Any substance supposed to be capable of absorbing, retaining, and transporting contagious or infectious germs; as, woolen clothes are said to be active fomites.
FOOL n.
One who counterfeits folly; a professional jester or buffoon; a retainer formerly kept to make sport, dressed fantastically in motley, with ridiculous accouterments. Can they think me . . . their fool or jester Milton. April fool, Court fool, etc. See under April, Court, etc. -- Fool's cap, a cap or hood to which bell…
FORELOCK n.
nt retraction; a linchpin; a pin fastening the cap-square of a gun. Forelock bolt, a bolt retained by a key, gib, or cotter passing through a slot. -- Forelock hook (Rope Making), a winch or whirl by which a bunch of three yarns is twisted into a standard. Knight. -- To take time, or occasion, by the forelock, to mak…
GLOBE n.
enus Gomphrena (G. globosa), bearing round heads of variously colored flowers, which long retain color when gathered. -- Globe animalcule, a small, globular, locomotive organism (Volvox globator), once throught to be an animal, afterward supposed to be a colony of microscopic algæ. -- Globe of compression (Mil.), a k…
GROIN n.
A frame of woodwork across a beach to accumulate and retain shingle. [Eng.] Weale.
GUTTA-PERCHA n.
a. It becomes soft, and unpressible at the tamperature of boiling water, and, on cooling, retains its new shape. It dissolves in oils and ethers, but not in water. In many of its properties it resembles caoutchouc, and it is extensively used for many economical purposes. The Mimusops globosa of Guiana also yields this…
HABIT n.
on or thing, either natural or acquired, regarded as something had, possessed, and firmly retained; as, a religious habit; his habit is morose; elms have a spreading habit; esp., physical temperament or constitution; as, a full habit of body.
HALF a.
salute with the cap. [Obs.] Shak. -- A half cock, the position of the cock of a gun when retained by the first notch. -- Half hitch, a sailor's knot in a rope; half of a clove hitch. -- Half hose, short stockings; socks. -- Half measure, an imperfect or weak line of action. -- Half note (Mus.), a minim, one half o…
HALL n.
es the only public room, serving as the place of gathering for the lord's family with the retainers and servants, also for cooking and eating. It was often contrasted with the bower, which was the private or sleeping apartment. Full sooty was her bower and eke her hall. Chaucer. Hence, as the entrance from outside was…
HERALD n.
ster, Richmond, Somerset, Windsor, and York Heralds, together with the Earl Marshal. This retains from the Middle Ages the charge of the armorial bearings of persons privileged to bear them, as well as of genealogies and kindred subjects; -- called also College of Arms.
HEWE n.
A domestic servant; a retainer. [Obs.] "False homely hewe." Chaucer.
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