Search the Dictionary

port; nothing intervened ( i. e., between the intention and the execution) to prevent the undertaking.

harass. The mind, once jaded by an attempt above its power, . . . checks at any vigorous undertaking ever after. Locke.

ertion; often used figuratively; as, to have, or pull, the laboring oar in some difficult undertaking.

Unfortunate event or issue of an undertaking; failure to attain a desired result or reach a destination. When a counselor, to save himself, Would lay miscarriages upon his prince. Dryden.

That which produces conception, invention, or creation in the mind of the artist in undertaking his subject; the guiding or controlling idea manifested in a work of art, or any part of one.

er the one thing nor the other; on neither side; impartial; neutral. [Archaic] In all our undertakings God will be either our friend or our enemy; for Providence never stands neuter. South.

orking order; -- applied to products of the human intellect, or to human institutions and undertakings, as a science, a government, an army, a war, etc. This original and supreme will organizes the government. Cranch.

An alliance or association of persons for the prosecution of an undertaking or a business on joint account; a company; a firm; a house; as, to form a partnership.

ecution; achievement; accomplishment; representation by action; as, the performance of an undertaking of a duty. Promises are not binding where the performance is impossible. Paley.

Full of, attended with, or involving, peril; dangerous; hazardous; as, a perilous undertaking. Infamous hills, and sandy, perilous wilds. Milton.

Of or pertaining to a pirate; acquired by, or practicing, piracy; as, a piratical undertaking. "Piratical printers." Pope. -- Pi*rat"ic*al*ly, adv.

A sum of money paid to underwriters for insurance, or for undertaking to indemnify for losses of any kind.

engine, a hot-air engine, etc. (c) Fig.: The original or the most effective force in any undertaking or work; as, Clarkson was the prime mover in English antislavery agitation. -- Prime number (Arith.), a number which is exactly divisible by no number except itself or unity, as 5, 7, 11. -- Prime vertical (Astron.),…

ng; pursuit by efforts of body or mind; as, the prosecution of a scheme, plan, design, or undertaking; the prosecution of war. Keeping a sharp eye on her domestics . . . in prosecution of their various duties. Sir W. Scott.

le; making gain, or increase; thriving; successful; as, a prosperous voyage; a prosperous undertaking; a prosperous man or nation.

reins; to stop; to halt. To pull through, to come successfully to the end of a difficult undertaking, a dangerous sickness, or the like.

That form of delusion which leads to extravagant and absurd undertakings or sacrifices in obedience to a morbidly romantic ideal of duty or honor, as illustrated by the exploits of Don Quixote in knight-errantry.

The profit on, or advantage received from, labor, or an investment, undertaking, adventure, etc. The fruit from many days of recreation is very little; but from these few hours we spend in prayer, the return is great. Jer. Taylor.

ciful; marvelous; extravagant; unreal; as, a romantic tale; a romantic notion; a romantic undertaking. Can anything in nature be imagined more profane and impious, more absurd, and undeed romantic, than such a persuasion South. Zeal for the good of one's country a party of men have represented as chimerical and romanti…

etended holiness; hypocritical devoutness. Her pretense is a pilgrimage; . . . which holy undertaking with most austere sanctimony she accomplished. Shak.