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e one, then it is properly called a sophism, or "fallacy". I. Watts. Let us first rid ourselves of sophisms, those of depraved men, and those of heartless philosophers. I. Taylor.

ning, puzzled inquirers after truth, weakened the faith of the people, and drew upon themselves general hatred and contempt. Many of the Sophists doubdtless card not for truth or morality, and merely professed to teach how to make the worse appear the better reason; but there scems no reason to hold that they were a sp…

course, or harangue; to adress a public assembly formally. Many of the nobility made themselves popular by speaking in Parliament against those things which were most grateful to his majesty. Clarendon.

man to throw up the sponge to fate." Lowell. -- Vegetable sponge. (Bot.) See Loof. -- Velvet sponge, a fine, soft commercial sponge (Spongia equina, variety meandriniformis) found in Florida and the West Indies. -- Vitreous sponge. See Glass-sponge. -- Yellow sponge, a common and valuable commercial sponge (Spongi…

amuse; to make merry; -- used with the reciprocal pronoun. Against whom do ye sport yourselves Isa. lvii. 4.

spurring hard to Westminster. Macaulay. Some bold men, . . . by spurring on, refine themselves. Grew.

I disdain and spurn. Shak. Domestics will pay a more cheerful service when they find themselves not spurned because fortune has laid them at their master's feet. Locke.

A square. See 1st Squire. [Obs.] Not the worst of the three but jumps twelve foot and a half by the squier. Shak.

genus. -- Stag-horn sumac (Bot.), a common American shrub (Rhus typhina) having densely velvety branchlets. See Sumac. -- Stag party, a party consisting of men only. [Slang, U. S.] -- Stag tick (Zoöl.), a parasitic dipterous insect of the family Hippoboscidæ, which lives upon the stag and in usually wingless. The sam…

anding pattern of their imitation." South. The king granted the Jews . . . to gather themselves together, and to stand for their life. Esther viii. 11.

ities. The minds of some of our statesmen, like the pupil of the human eye, contract themselves the more, the stronger light there is shed upon them. More.

flexive); hence, to creep furtively, or to insinuate. They could insinuate and steal themselves under the same by their humble carriage and submission. Spenser. He will steal himself into a man's favor. Shak.

urned into stepping-stones. Macaulay. That men may rise on stepping-stones Of their dead selves to higher things. Tennyson.

out flames. Spenser. The Lydians were inhibited by Cyrus to use any armor, and give themselves to baths and stews. Abp. Abbot.

quench; as, to stifle the breath; to stifle a fire or flame. Bodies . . . stifle in themselves the rays which they do not reflect or transmit. Sir I. Newton.

A black or greenish black mineral occurring in foliated flates, also in velvety bronze-colored incrustations. It is a hydrous silicate of iron and alumina.

A small collection of sheaves set up in the field; a shock; in England, twelve sheaves.

aining the holy water with which those who enter, dipping their fingers in it, cross themselves; -- called also holy-water stoup.

so laid that the joints form a continued line transverse to the length of the boards themselves. Brandle & C.

awberry vines; as: (a) The smeared dagger (Apatela oblinita), whose large hairy larva is velvety black with two rows of bright yellow spots on each side. (b) A geometrid (Angerona crocataria) which is yellow with dusky spots on the wings. Called also currant moth. -- Strawberry pear (Bot.), the red ovoid fruit of a We…