Search the Dictionary

it of silver coin, and is not legal tender, but is receivable for customs, taxes, and all public dues.

e, irrespective of improvements, -- advocated by certain economists as the sole source of public revenue.

the drooping spirits in delight Beyond the bliss of dreams. Milton. A sip is all that the public ever care to take from reservoirs of abstract philosophy. De Quincey.

and services are wholly under the control of another. thou our slave, Our captive, at the public mill our drudge Milton.

Hence, to repress the action of; to cover from public view; to suppress; to conceal; as, to smother one's displeasure.

itual soberness or temperance as to the use of spirituous liquors; as, a man of sobriety. Public sobriety is a relative duty. Blackstone.

Of or pertaining to society; relating to men living in society, or to the public as an aggregate body; as, social interest or concerns; social pleasure; social benefits; social happiness; social duties. "Social phenomena." J. S. Mill.

ate or quality of being solemn; solemnity; impressiveness; gravity; as, the solemnness of public worship. [Written also solemness.]

A celebrated Athenian lawmaker, born about 638 b. c.; hence, a legislator; a publicist; -- often used ironically.

To utter a speech, discourse, 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.

One who utters or pronounces a discourse; usually, one who utters a speech in public; as, the man is a good speaker, or a bad speaker.

Public declamation; oratory.

A public spectacle or exhibition. [Obs.] Bacon.

nt containing a minute description or enumeration of particulars, as of charges against a public officer, the terms of a contract, the description of an invention, as in a patent; also, a single article, item, or particular, an allegation of a specific act, as in a charge of official misconduct.

formal discourse in public; oration; harangue. The constant design of these orators, in all their speeches, was to drive some one particular point. Swift.

One who makes speeches; one accustomed to speak in a public assembly.

roacheth nearest to spirituality. Sir W. Raleigh. Much of our spirituality and comfort in public worship depends on the state of mind in which we come. Bickersteth.

Public offices and their emoluments regarded as the peculiar property of a successful party or faction, to be bestowed for its own advantage; -- commonly in the plural; as to the victor belong the spoils. From a principle of gratitude I adhered to the coalition; my vote was counted in the day of battle, but I was overl…

share of the spoils; in United States politics, one who makes or recognizes a demand for public office on the ground of partisan service; also, one who sanctions such a policy in appointments to the public service.

One who promises or distributes public offices and their emoluments as the price of services to a party or its leaders.