Search the Dictionary

Disposed to suspect rivalry in matters of interest and affection; apprehensive regarding the motives of possible rivals, or the fidelity of friends; distrustful; having morbid fear of rivalry in love or preference given to another; painfully suspicious of the faithfulness of husband, wife, or lover. If the spirit of je…

Lacking matter; empty; void of substance.

Sportive; not serious; fit for jests. He will find that these are no jesting matters. Macaulay .

To seek private gain under pretense of public service; to turn public matters to private advantage. And judges job, and bishops bite the town. Pope.

An extractive matter contained in the juice of the green shucks of the walnut (Juglans regia). It is used medicinally as an alterative, and also as a black hair dye.

sually twelve, selected according to law, impaneled and sworn to inquire into and try any matter of fact, and to render their true verdict according to the evidence legally adduced. See Grand jury under Grand, and Inquest. The jury, passing on the prisoner's life. Shak.

of oak near the Mediterranean. They are round, about the size of a pea, contain coloring matter analogous to carmine, and are used in dyeing. They were anciently thought to be of a vegetable nature, and were used in medicine. [Written also chermes.]

A small mass around which other matter is concreted; a nucleus; a concretion or hard lump in the flesh.

and another of birds. I Cor. xv. 39. Diogenes was asked in a kind of scorn: What was the matter that philosophers haunted rich men, and not rich men philosophers Bacon. A kind of, something belonging to the class of; something like to; -- said loosely or slightingly. In kind, in the produce or designated commodity its…

The point on which the action of a story depends; the gist of a matter. [Obs.] I shoulde to the knotte condescend, And maken of her walking soon an end. Chaucer.

Interwoven; matted; entangled. Make . . . thy knotted and combined locks to part. Shak.

That may be known; capable of being discovered, understood, or ascertained. Thus mind and matter, as known or knowable, are only two different series of phenomena or qualities. Sir W. Hamilton.

As a layman; after the manner of a layman; as, to treat a matter laically.

A pigment formed by combining some coloring matter, usually by precipitation, with a metallic oxide or earth, esp. with aluminium hydrate; as, madder lake; Florentine lake; yellow lake, etc.

nt, a person employed to sell or let land, to collect rents, and to attend to other money matters connected with land. -- Land boat, a vehicle on wheels propelled by sails. -- Land blink, a peculiar atmospheric brightness seen from sea over distant snow-covered land in arctic regions. See Ice blink. -- Land breeze.…

ination of gouty paroxysms. It usually consists of uric acid or urates with some coloring matter.

One who has but a smattering of Latin. Walker.

A latitudinarian system or condition; freedom of opinion in matters pertaining to religious belief. Fierce sectarianism bred fierce latitudinarianism. De Quincey. He [Ammonius Saccas] plunged into the wildest latitudinarianism of opinion. J. S. Harford.

dy. -- Sumptuary law. See under Sumptuary. -- To go to law, to seek a settlement of any matter by bringing it before the courts of law; to sue or prosecute some one. -- To take, or have, the law of, to bring the law to bear upon; as, to take the law of one's neighbor. Addison. -- Wager of law. See under Wager.…

as to prosecution or defence of lawsuits, or as to legal rights and obligations in other matters. It is a general term, comprehending attorneys, counselors, solicitors, barristers, sergeants, and advocates.