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The act of polluting, or the state of being polluted (in any sense of the verb); defilement; uncleanness; impurity.

Pshaw! pish! nonsense! -- an expression of scorn, dislike, or contempt.

d. -- The poor, those who are destitute of property; the indigent; the needy. In a legal sense, those who depend on charity or maintenance by the public. "I have observed the more public provisions are made for the poor, the less they provide for themselves." Franklin.

The quality or state of being poor (in any of the senses of the adjective). Bacon.

tholic Church, comprehending doctrines and practices; -- generally used in an opprobrious sense.

In the broadest sense, the theory or practice of any of several groups of recent painters, or of these groups taken collectively, whose work and theories have in common a tendency to reaction against the scientific and naturalistic character of impressionism and neo- impressionism. In a strict sense the term post-impre…

The act of postponing, in sense 2. [Obs.] Johnson.

Powerful, in an intellectual or moral sense; having great influence; as, potent interest; a potent argument. Cross potent. (Her.) See Illust. (7) of Cross.

y in contrivance or the use of means; art; stratagem; artifice; plot; -- usually in a bad sense. [Obs.] Bacon. He sought to have that by practice which he could not by prayer. Sir P. Sidney.

To utter foolishly; to speak without reason or purpose; to chatter, or babble. What nonsense would the fool, thy master, prate, When thou, his knave, canst talk at such a rate ! Dryden.

nence or in excellence; distinction above others in quality, rank, etc.; rarely, in a bad sense, superiority or notoriety in evil; as, preëminence in honor. The preëminence of Christianity to any other religious scheme. Addison. Painful preëminence! yourself to view Above life's weakness, and its comforts too. Pope. Be…

beforehand. The committee of council hath prejudged the whole case, by calling the united sense of both houses of Parliament" a universal clamor." Swift.

A word employed to connect a noun or a pronoun, in an adjectival or adverbial sense, with some other word; a particle used with a noun or pronoun (in English always in the objective case) to make a phrase limiting some other word; -- so called because usually placed before the word with which it is phrased; as, a bridg…

ved opinion; previous impression; bias; -- generally, but not always, used in a favorable sense; as, the prepossessions of childhood. "The prejudices and prepossessions of the country." Sir W. Scott.

ese presents," that is, by the writing itself, " per has literas praesentes; " -- in this sense, rarely used in the singular.

The quality or state of being pretty; -- used sometimes in a disparaging sense. A style . . . without sententious pretension or antithetical prettiness. Jeffrey.

Affectedly nice; foppish; -- used in an ill sense. The pretty gentleman is the most complaisant in the world. Spectator.

A sense of one's own worth, and abhorrence of what is beneath or unworthy of one; lofty self-respect; noble self-esteem; elevation of character; dignified bearing; proud delight; -- in a good sense. Thus to relieve the wretched was his pride. Goldsmith. A people which takes no pride in the noble achievements of remote…

Priestly policy; the policy of a priesthood; esp., in an ill sense, fraud or imposition in religious concerns; management by priests to gain wealth and power by working upon the religious motives or credulity of others. It is better that men should be governed by priestcraft than by violence. Macaulay.…

, from type, or from stereotype, electrotype, or engraved plates, or the like; in a wider sense, to do the typesetting, presswork, etc., of (a book or other publication); as, to print books, newspapers, pictures; to print an edition of a book.