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ce to order or obedience; to correct or purify; to free from faults or excesses. The gay, social sense, by decency chastised. Thomson.

A small American sparrow (Spizella socialis), very common near dwelling; -- also called chipping bird and chipping sparrow, from its simple note.

Social intercourse; the dealings of one person or class in society with another; familiarity. Fifteen years of thought, observation, and commerce with the world had made him [Bunyan] wiser. Macaulay.

A scheme of equalizing the social conditions of life; specifically, a scheme which contemplates the abolition of inequalities in the possession of property, as by distributing all wealth equally to all, or by holding all wealth in common for the equal use and advantage of all.

Society, in general; people assembled for social intercourse. Nature has left every man a capacity of being agreeable, though not of shining in company. Swift.

sons, esp. of delegates or representatives, to accomplish some specific object, -- civil, social, political, or ecclesiastical. He set himself to the making of good laws in a grand convention of his nobles. Sir R. Baker. A convention of delegates from all the States, to meet in Philadelphia, for the sole and express pu…

language appropriated to monarchs. Motley. The ordinary salutations, and other points of social behavior, are conventional. Latham.

The state of being conventional; adherence to social formalities or usages; that which is established by conventional use; one of the customary usages of social life.

Relating to intercourse with men; social; -- opposed to contemplative. She chose . . . to endue him with the conversative qualities of youth. Sir H. Wotton.

Ready to converse; social. [Archaic] Feltham.

feast or entertainment, or to eating and drinking, with accompanying festivity; festive; social; gay; jovial. Which feasts convivial meetings we did name. Denham.

A festivity or social gathering, esp. one of a noisy or uproarious character; hence, tumult; uproar. [Australia]

A set or circle of persons who meet familiarly, as for social, literary, or other purposes; a clique. "The queen of your coterie." Thackeray.

ounty of Warwick, England. To send to Coventry, to exclude from society; to shut out from social intercourse, as for ungentlemanly conduct. -- Coventry blue, blue thread of a superior dye, made at Coventry, England, and used for embroidery.

Repeated potations; social or exessive indulgence in intoxicating drinks; revelry. Thence from cups to civil broils. Milton.

iogenes was a disciple. The first Cynics were noted for austere lives and their scorn for social customs and current philosophical opinions. Hence the term Cynic symbolized, in the popular judgment, moroseness, and contempt for the views of others.

Fallen, as to physical or social condition; affected with decay; rotten; as, decayed vegetation or vegetables; a decayed fortune or gentleman. -- De*cay"ed*ness, n.

state of being decent, suitable, or becoming, in words or behavior; propriety of form in social intercourse, in actions, or in discourse; proper formality; becoming ceremony; seemliness; hence, freedom from obscenity or indecorum; modesty. Observances of time, place, and of decency in general. Burke. Immodest words ad…

eful . . . to disincline them from any reverence or affection to the Queen. Clarendon. To social scenes by nature disinclined. Cowper.

Having a tendency to dissolve social connections; unsuitable to society; unsociable.