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discerning; -- often in irony or contempt. Where the sapient king Held dalliance with his fair Egyptian spouse. Milton.

; to rescue from impending danger; as, to save a house from the flames. God save all this fair company. Chaucer. He cried, saying, Lord, save me. Matt. xiv. 30. Thou hast . . . quitted all to save A world from utter loss. Milton.

Comprehension; knowledge of affairs; mental grasp. [Slang, U. S.]

a sword, dagger, etc., is kept; a sheath. Nor in thy scabbard sheathe that famous blade. Fairfax. Scabbard fish (Zoöl.), a long, compressed, silver-colored tænioid fish (Lepidopus caudatus, or argyreus), found on the European coasts, and more abundantly about New Zealand, where it is called frostfish and considered an…

See Escalade. Fairfax.

Scarcely; hardly; barely. Scantly they durst their feeble eyes dispread Upon that town. Fairfax. We hold a tourney here to-morrow morn, And there is scantly time for half the work. Tennyson.

ar edge, -- used by engravers to clear away the spaces between the lines of an engraving. Fairholt.

To cut; to penetrate. [Obs.] The wicked steel scised deep in his right side. Fairfax.

hout consuming; as, to scorch linen. Summer drouth or singed air never scorch thy tresses fair. Milton.

a seam; containing seams, or showing them. "Many a seamy scar." Burns. Everything has its fair, as well as its seamy, side. Sir W. Scott.

situation. Where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is. Rev. ii. 13. He that builds a fair house upon an ill seat committeth himself to prison. Bacon. A seat of plenty, content, and tranquillity. Macaulay.

An officer of state whose business is to superintend and manage the affairs of a particular department of government, and who is usually a member of the cabinet or advisory council of the chief executive; as, the secretary of state, who conducts the correspondence and attends to the relations of a government with forei…

Appearance; show; semblance; fair appearance; speciousness. These keep Seeming and savor all the winter long. Shak.

Semblance; fair appearance; plausibility. Sir K. Digby.

To lord it over. [Obs.] As proud as he that seigniorizeth hell. Fairfax.

A throne or lofty seat. [Obs.] Fairfax.

ming; appearance; show; figure; form. Thier semblance kind, and mild their gestures were. Fairfax.

To imitate; to make a representation or likeness. [Obs.] Where sembling art may carve the fair effect. Prior.

having supreme legislative authority. The senate was thus the medium through which all affairs of the whole government had to pass. Dr. W. Smith.

To exercise authority; to rule; to lord it. [R.] Fairfax.