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To paint, as in water colors, by small, short touches which together produce an even or softly graded surface.

s; as, the strings took up the theme. "An instrument of ten strings." Ps. xxx. iii. 2. Me softer airs befit, and softer strings Of lute, or viol still. Milton.

A mixture of oil and tallow used in softening and dressing leather. Stuffing box, a device for rendering a joint impervious where there is a hole through which a movable cylindrical body, as the paston rod of a steam engine, or the plunger of a pump, slides back and forth, or in which a shaft turns. It usually consists…

To cut off a part of; to reduce to a stump; to lop. Around the stumped top soft moss did grow. Dr. H. More.

The quality of being sweet or pleasing to the mind; agreeableness; softness; pleasantness; gentleness; urbanity; as, suavity of manners; suavity of language, conversation, or address. Glanvill.

A division of soft-finned fishes in which the ventral fins are situated beneath the pectorial fins, or nearly so.

To reduce to tenderness; to melt; to soften; as, to subdue ferocity by tears.

Not glaring in color; soft in tone.

Submissive; humble; obsequious. [Archaic] "Soft Silence and submiss Obedience." Spenser. "Stooping and submiss." R. L. Stevenson.

Having no success. Successless all her soft caresses prove. Pope. -- Suc*cess"less*ly, adv. -- Suc*cess"less*ness, n.

Full of juice; juicy. Succulent plants (Bot.), plants which have soft and juicy leaves or stems, as the houseleek, the live forever, and the species of Mesembryanthemum.

.), an immense coniferous tree (Pinus Lambertiana) of California and Oregon, furnishing a soft and easily worked timber. The resinous exudation from the stumps, etc., has a sweetish taste, and has been used as a substitute for sugar. -- Sugar squirrel (Zoöl.), an Australian flying phalanger (Belideus sciureus), having…

The act of enticing by soft words; enticement. [Obs.]

To make soft and pliant; to render flexible; as, to supple leather. The flesh therewith she suppled and did steep. Spenser.

In a supple manner; softly; pliantly; mildly. Cotgrave.

A soft twilled silk fabric much used for women's dresses; -- called also surah silk.

Rough; dark; tempestuous. Now softened into joy the surly storm. Thomson.

To fetch a long, deep breath; to sigh; to breathe. Shak. Fireflies that suspire In short, soft lapses of transported flame. Mrs. Browning.

Whispering. [R.] "The soft susurrant sigh." Poetry of Anti- Jacobin.

A whispering; a soft murmur. "Soft susurrations of the trees." Howell.