Search the Dictionary

rchant vessels of an enemy. Not being intended to fight, they may be improvised from fast passenger steamers.

t of commiserating; sorrow for the wants, afflictions, or distresses of another; pity; compassion. And pluck commiseration of his state From brassy bosoms and rough hearts of flint. Shak.

In a commodious manner. To pass commodiously this life. Milton.

An inclosed or uninclosed tract of ground for pleasure, for pasturage, etc., the use of which belongs to the public; or to a number of persons.

Allowed to pasture on public commons. Commonable beasts are either beasts of the plow, or such as manure the ground. Blackstone.

The right of pasturing on a common; the right of using anything in common with others. The claim of comonage . . . in most of the forests. Burke.

A common; public pasture ground. To shake his ears, and graze in commons. Shak. Doctors' Commons, a place near St. Paul's Chuchyard in London where the doctors of civil law used to common together, and where were the ecclesiastical and admiralty courts and offices having jurisdiction of marriage licenses, divorces, reg…

Means of communicating; means of passing from place to place; a connecting passage; connection. The Euxine Sea is conveniently situated for trade, by the communication it has both with Asia and Europe. Arbuthnot.

A passing from one state to another; change; alteration; mutation. [R.] So great is the commutation that the soul then hated only that which now only it loves. South.

ose union or connection of parts; manner of joining; construction. [Obs.] "With comely compass and compacture strong." Spenser.

Containing the substance oe general principles of a subject or work in a narrow compass; abridged; summarized. More compendious and exeditious ways. Woodward. Three things be required in the oration of a man having authority -- that it be compendious, sententious, and delectable. Sir T. Elyot.

An iron plate or magnet placed near the compass on iron vessels to neutralize the effect of the ship's attraction on the needle.

to construct; to build. [Obs.] Before that Merlin died, he did intend A brazen wall in compass to compile. Spenser.

mind. Milton. The Jews . . . had made their religion compliable, and accemodated to their passions. Jortin.

To pass compliments; to use conventional expressions of respect. I make the interlocutors, upon occasion, compliment with one another. Boyle.

lmness; sedateness; tranquillity; repose. "We seek peace and composure." Milton. When the passions . . . are all silent, the mind enjoys its most perfect composure. I. Watts.

To press or squeeze together; to force into a narrower compass; to reduce the volume of by pressure; to compact; to condense; as, to compress air or water. Events of centuries . . . compressed within the compass of a single life. D. Webster. The same strength of expression, though more compressed, runs through his hist…

Capable of being pressed together or forced into a narrower compass, as an elastic or spongy substance.

ntertaining a flattering opinion of one's self; vain. If you think me too conceited Or to passion quickly heated. Swift. Conceited of their own wit, science, and politeness. Bentley.

t or process of removing the dress of ore and of reducing the valuable part to smaller compass, as by currents of air or water.