Search the Dictionary

Across the direction or course of; as, a fleet standing athwart our course. Athwart hawse, across the stem of another vessel, whether in contact or at a small distance. -- Athwart ships, across the ship from side to side, or in that direction; -- opposed to fore and aft.

er in an indistinct or incoherent way; to repeat,as words, in a childish way without understanding. These [words] he used to babble in all companies. Arbuthnot.

Prussia, the most effective part of the population liable to military duty and not in the standing army.

One who has a claim to precedence; a superior, as in merit, social standing, etc.; -- usually in the plural. Their betters would hardly be found. Hooker. For the better, in the way of improvement; so as to produce improvement. "If I have altered him anywhere for the better." Dryden.

- Between ourselves, Between you and me, Between themselves, in confidence; with the understanding that the matter is not to be communicated to others.

ions as are necessary for a voyage, custom free. Wharton. -- Bills payable (pl.), the outstanding unpaid notes or acceptances made and issued by an individual or firm. -- Bills receivable (pl.), the unpaid promissory notes or acceptances held by an individual or firm. McElrath. -- A true bill, a bill of indictment s…

To darken; to obscure to the eye or understanding; to conceal; to deceive. Such darkness blinds the sky. Dryden. The state of the controversy between us he endeavored, with all his art, to blind and confound. Stillingfleet.

Making blind or as if blind; depriving of sight or of understanding; obscuring; as, blinding tears; blinding snow.

Without sight, discernment, or understanding; without thought, investigation, knowledge, or purpose of one's own. By his imperious mistress blindly led. Dryden.

A stupid fellow; a dolt; a person deficient in understanding. The bookful blockhead, ignorantly read, With loads of learned lumber in his head. Pope.

Like a block; deficient in understanding; stupid; dull. "Blockish Ajax." Shak. -- Block"ish*ly, adv. -- Block"ish*ness, n.

Dull in understanding; slow of discernment; stupid; -- opposed to acute. His wits are not so blunt. Shak.

The peepul tree; esp., the very ancient tree standing at Anurajahpoora in Ceylon, grown from a slip of the tree under which Gautama is said to have received the heavenly light and so to have become Buddha. The sacred bo tree of the Buddhists (Ficus religiosa), which is planted close to every temple, and attracts almost…

Standing prominently out to view; markedly conspicuous; striking the eye; in high relief. Shadows in painting . . . make the figure bolder. Dryden.

The organ or seat of intellect; hence, the understanding. " My brain is too dull." Sir W. Scott.

Without understanding; silly; thougthless; witless. -- Brain"less*ness, n.

Disordered in the understanding; giddy; thoughtless. -- Brain"sick*ness, n.

To destroy the official character and standing of; to cashier; to dismiss. I see a great officer broken. Swift.

To appear as if covered with bristles; to have standing, thick and erect, like bristles. The hill of La Haye Sainte bristling with ten thousand bayonets. Thackeray. Ports bristling with thousands of masts. Macaulay.

pleasure with pain. Buy the truth and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding. Prov. xxiii. 23. To buy again. See Againbuy. [Obs.] Chaucer. -- To buy off. (a) To influence to compliance; to cause to bend or yield by some consideration; as, to buy off conscience. (b) To detach by a consideration gi…