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To destroy; to ruin; to waste. [Obs.]

Overthrow; defeat; ruin.

One who, or that which, preserves from ruin, injury, innovation, or radical change; a preserver; a conserver. The Holy Spirit is the great conservative of the new life. Jer. Taylor.

o another person, place, or state. [Obs.] So is despair a certain consignation to eternal ruin. Jer. Taylor.

The method of construing, interpreting, or explaining a declaration or fact; an attributed sense or meaning; understanding; explanation; interpretation; sense. Any person . . . might, by the sort of construction that would be put on this act, become liable to the penalties of treason. Hallam. Strictly, the term [constr…

To be ruined or impaired; to fail. [Collog.] The credit . . . of exchequers cracks, when little comes in and much goes out. Dryden.

Ruin; failure; sudden breaking down, as of a business house or a commercial enterprise.

A perverse fancy; a whim which takes possession of the mind; a conceit. He ruined himself and all that trusted in him by crotchets that he could never explain to any rational man. De Quincey.

fall into small pieces; to break or part into small fragments; hence, to fall to decay or ruin; to become disintegrated; to perish. If the stone is brittle, it will crumble and pass into the form of gravel. Arbuthnot. The league deprived of its principal supports must soon crumble to pieces. Prescott.…

A violent collision or compression; a crash; destruction; ruin. The wreck of matter, and the crush of worlds. Addison.

A rule for construing written instruments so as to conform as nearly to the intention of the parties as is consistent with law. Mozley & W.

To break, as by throwing or by collision; to shatter; to crust; to frustrate; to ruin. Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Ps. ii. 9. A brave vessel, . . . Dashed all to pieces. Shak. To perplex and dash Maturest counsels. Milton.

A European bird of the Crow family (Corvus monedula), often nesting in church towers and ruins; a jackdaw. The loud daw, his throat displaying, draw The whole assembly of his fellow daws. Waller.

Rubbish, especially such as results from the destruction of anything; remains; ruins.

To overcome or vanquish, as an army; to check, disperse, or ruin by victory; to overthrow.

To throw or pull down; to raze; to destroy the fabric of; to pull to pieces; to ruin; as, to demolish an edifice, or a wall. I expected the fabric of my book would long since have been demolished, and laid even with the ground. Tillotson.

, adv. Hopelessly; despairingly; in the manner of one ruined; as, deperditely wicked. [Archaic]

Laid waste; in a ruinous condition; neglected; destroyed; as, desolate altars.

The state of being desolated or laid waste; ruin; solitariness; destitution; gloominess. You would have sold your king to slaughter, . . . And his whole kingdom into desolation. Shak.

To ruin; to bring to naught; to put an end to; to annihilate; to consume. I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation. Jer. xii. 17.