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Course of business or occupation; continued employment with a view to same end; as, mercantile pursuits; a literary pursuit.

One of the less volatile hydrocarbons of coal tar, obtained as a white crystalline substance, C16H10.

ween the base of the lower jaw and the skull in most vertebrates below the mammals. In reptiles and birds it articulates the lower jaw with the skull; in mammals it is represented by the malleus or incus.

A square brick, tile, or the like.

An animal having four feet, as most mammals and reptiles; -- often restricted to the mammals.

Sickness; disease; pestilence; death. [Obs.] thousand slain and not of qualm ystorve [dead]. Chaucer.

A square or lozenge-shaped paving tile.

The fertile, or fully developed, female of social bees, ants, and termites.

A hostile or predatory incursion; an inroad or incursion of mounted men; a sudden and rapid invasion by a cavalry force; a foray. Marauding chief! his sole delight. The moonlight raid, the morning fight. Sir W. Scott. There are permanent conquests, temporary occupation, and occasional raids. H. Spenser.…

A leap; a spring; a hostile advance. The bold Ascalonite Fled from his lion ramp. Milton.

The horizontal distance to which a shot or other projectile is carried.

Causing vigorous growth; producing luxuriantly; very rich and fertile; as, rank land. Mortimer.

To be disobedient to authority; to assume a hostile or insubordinate attitude; to revolt. Hoe could my hand rebel against my heart How could you heart rebel against your reason Dryden.

which rectifies or refines; esp., a part of a distilling apparatus in which the more volatile portions are separated from the less volatile by the process of evaporation and condensation; a rectifier.

anking defenses, -- used esp. in fortifying tops of hills and passes, and positions in hostile territory.

inual regeneration of the epithelial cells of the body, or the regeneration of the contractile substance of muscle.

Hence, to be predominant; to prevail. "Pestilent diseases which commonly reign in summer." Bacon.

To meet unexpectedly; to encounter in a hostile manner; to come in collision; to skirmish.

Formed with a surface closely corded, or ribbed transversely; - - applied to textile fabrics of silk or wool; as, rep silk.

advance of; to repulse as, to repel an enemy or an assailant. Hippomedon repelled the hostile tide. Pope. They repelled each other strongly, and yet attracted each other strongly. Macaulay.