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A series of motions or acts arranged in order; a succession of acts or practices connectedly followed; as, a course of medicine; a course of lectures on chemistry.

Vehement or urgent desire; longing for; beseeching. A succession of cravings and satiety. L'Estrange. -- Crav"ing*ly, adv. -- Crav"ing*ness, n.

An interval of time in which a certain succession of events or phenomena is completed, and then returns again and again, uniformly and continually in the same order; a periodical space of time marked by the recurrence of something peculiar; as, the cucle of the seasons, or of the year. Wages . . . bear a full proportio…

al accompaniment; to go through, either alone or in company with others, with a regulated succession of movements, (commonly) to the sound of music; to trip or leap rhytmically. Jack shall pipe and Gill shall dance. Wiher. Good shepherd, what fair swain is this Which dances with your dauther Shak.

disappoint all his hopes. Tillotson. The escheators . . . defeated the right heir of his succession. Hallam. In one instance he defeated his own purpose. A. W. Ward.

to linger; to tarry. There seem to be certain bounds to the quickness and slowness of the succession of those ideas, . . . beyond which they can neither delay nor hasten. Locke.

To transfer or transmit by succession or inheritance; to grant or bestow by will; to bequeath. "Power to demise my lands." Swift. What honor Canst thou demise to any child of mine Shak.

To unfold gradually, as a flower from a bud; hence, to bring through a succession of states or stages, each of which is preparatory to the next; to form or expand by a process of growth; to cause to change gradually from an embryo, or a lower state, to a higher state or form of being; as, sunshine and rain develop the…

To pass by transmission or succession; to be handed over or down; -- generally with on or upon, sometimes with to or into; as, after the general fell, the command devolved upon (or on) the next officer in rank. His estate . . . devolved to Lord Somerville. Johnson.

To cut off from an inheritance or from hereditary succession; to prevent, as an heir, from coming into possession of any property or right, which, by law or custom, would devolve on him in the course of descent. Of how fair a portion Adam disinherited his whole posterity! South.

Remoteness in succession or relation; as, the distance between a descendant and his ancestor.

To fall in drops or small drops, or in a quick succession of drops; as, water dribbles from the eaves.

es; strictly, a tool that cuts with its end, by revolving, as in drilling metals, or by a succession of blows, as in drilling stone; also, a drill press.

To beat with the fingers, as with drumsticks; to beat with a rapid succession of strokes; to make a noise like that of a beaten drum; as, the ruffed grouse drums with his wings. Drumming with his fingers on the arm of his chair. W. Irving.

e obliquely, so as to make it rebound repeatedly from the surface of the water, raising a succession of jets; hence: To play at ducks and drakes, with property, to throw it away heedlessly or squander it foolishly and unprofitably. -- Lame duck. See under Lame.

A race or succession of kings, of the same line or family; the continued lordship of a race of rulers.

chelon lens (Optics), a large lens constructed in several parts or layers, extending in a succession of annular rings beyond the central lens; - - used in lighthouses.

To follow or come afterward; to follow as a consequence or in chronological succession; to result; as, an ensuing conclusion or effect; the year ensuing was a cold one. So spoke the Dame, but no applause ensued. Pope. Damage to the mind or the body, or to both, ensues, unless the exciting cause be presently removed. I.…

A period of time reckoned from some particular date or epoch; a succession of years dating from some important event; as, the era of Alexander; the era of Christ, or the Christian era (see under Christian). The first century of our era. M. Arnold.

A succession of chords of the sixth. [Obs.]