Search the Dictionary

The envelope of a comet; a nebulous covering, which surrounds the nucleus or body of a comet.

the adjacent parts of the United States; -- called also Paducahs. They are noted for plundering and cruelty.

Affording or imparting comfort or consolation; able to comfort; cheering; as, a comfortable hope. "Kind words and comfortable." Cowper. A comfortable provision made for their subsistence. Dryden.

The Holy Spirit, -- reffering to his office of comforting believers. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things. John xiv. 26.

Act or process of administering comfort. [Obs.] The gentle comfortment and entertainment of the said embassador. Hakluyt.

Entrance; entrance way; manner of entering; beginning. "The goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof." Ezek. xliii. 11

iol.), a variety of bacillus shaped like a comma, found in the intestines of patients suffering from cholera. It is considered by some as having a special relation to the disease; -- called also cholera bacillus. -- Comma butterfly (Zoöl.), an American butterfly (Grapta comma), having a white comma-shaped marking on t…

To have power or influence of the nature of authority over; to obtain as if by ordering; to reeceive as a due; to challenge; to claim; as, justice commands the respect and affections of the people; the best goods command the best price. 'Tis not in mortals to command success. Addison.

, intended to preserve the remembrance of the person or event; as, to commemorate the sufferings and dying love of our Savior by the sacrament of the Lord's Supper; to commemorate the Declaration of Independence by the observance of the Fourth of July. We are called upon to commemorate a revolution. Atterbury.…

Tending or intended to commemorate. "A sacrifice commemorative of Christ's offering up his body for us." Hammond. An inscription commemorative of his victory. Sir G. C. Lewis.

Eng. Hist.) See under Array. -- Commission of bankrupty, a commission apointing and empowering certain persons to examine into the facts relative to an alleged bankrupty, and to secure the bankrupt's lands and effects for the creditors. -- Commission of lunacy, a commission authoring and inquiry whether a person is a…

The line of junction or cohering face of two carpels, as in the parsnip, caraway, etc.

The act of pledging or engaging; the act of exposing, endangering, or compromising; also, the state of being pledged or engaged. Hamilton.

ch a legislative or deliberative body sometimes resolves itself, for the purpose of considering a particular measure under the operation of different rules from those governing the general legislative proceedings. The committee of the whole has its own chairman, and reports its action in the form of recommendations. -…

put in motion; to disturb; to unsettle. [R.] Straight the sands, Commoved around, in gathering eddies play. Thomson.

Composed or made; -- with of. [Poetic] A wandering fire, Compact of unctuous vapor. Milton.

A wooden hood or penthouse covering the companion way; a companion hatch. Companion hatch (Naut.), a wooden porch over the entrance or staircase of the cabin. -- Companion ladder (Naut.), the ladder by which officers ascend to, or descend from, the quarter-deck. Totten. -- Companion way (Naut.), a staircase leading t…

A subdivision of a regiment of troops under the command of a captain, numbering in the United States (full strength) 100 men.

character or qualities of, as of two or more persons or things, for the purpose of discovering their resemblances or differences; to bring into comparison; to regard with discriminating attention. Compare dead happiness with living woe. Shak. The place he found beyond expression bright, Compared with aught on earth. M…

The act of comparing; an examination of two or more objects with the view of discovering the resemblances or differences; relative estimate. As sharp legal practitioners, no class of human beings can bear comparison with them. Macaulay. The miracles of our Lord and those of the Old Testament afford many interesting poi…