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To harass with importunity; to pursue with persistent solicitations; to annoy. Johnson.

To trouble; to disturb; to annoy; to harass with petty vexations. We are pestered with mice and rats. Dr. H. More. A multitude of scribblers daily pester the world. Dryden.

To trim. [Obs.] Chaucer. To pick at, to tease or vex by pertinacious annoyance. -- To pick a bone with. See under Bone. -- To pick a thank, to curry favor. [Obs.] Robynson (More's Utopia). -- To pick off. (a) To pluck; to remove by picking. (b) To shoot or bring down, one by one; as, sharpshooters pick off the enemy…

To cause annoyance or irritation. "Every piques." Tatler.

One who plagues or annoys.

he act of protecting, or the state of being protected; preservation from loss, injury, or annoyance; defense; shelter; as, the weak need protection. To your protection I commend me, gods. Shak.

An annoying, worthless person. Shak.

complaining; disposed to murmur; as, a querulous man or people. Enmity can hardly be more annoying that querulous, jealous, exacting fondness. Macaulay.

the tools used in one's employment (as by breaking or stealing them), for the purpose of annoying; as, to ratten a mechanic who works during a strike. [Trades-union Cant] J. McCarthy.

To assail, annoy, or stun with a ratting noise. Sound but another [drum], and another shall As loud as thine rattle the welkin's ear. Shak.

Something that chafes or annoys; hence, something that grates on the feelings; a sarcasm; a rub. Thackeray.

ers put into lanterns or sconces of several-colored, oiled paper, that the wind might not annoy them. Evelyn. Golden sconces hang not on the walls. Dryden.

That which covers or defends from injury or annoyance; a protection; a screen. The sick and weak the healing plant shall aid, From storms a shelter, and from heat a shade. Pope.

To subject to the operation of smoke, for the purpose of annoying or driving out; -- often with out; as, to smoke a woodchuck out of his burrow.

To pounce upon. [R.] [The gallant monarch] like eagle o'er his serie towers, To souse annoyance that comes near his nest. Shak.

Fig.: Abounding with difficulties or annoyances. The spiny deserts of scholastic philosophy. Bp. Warburton. Spiny lobster. (Zoöl.) Same as Rock lobster, under Rock. See also Lobster.

Ill-will or hatred toward another, accompanied with the disposition to irritate, annoy, or thwart; petty malice; grudge; rancor; despite. Pope. This is the deadly spite that angers. Shak.

Filled with, or showing, spite; having a desire to vex, annoy, or injure; malignant; malicious; as, a spiteful person or act. Shak. -- Spite"ful*ly, adv. Spite"ful*ness, n.

Angered; annoyed. [Obs.] R. North.

ern chaser (Naut.), a cannon placed in a ship's stern, pointing backward, and intended to annoy a ship that is in pursuit. -- Stern fast (Naut.), a rope used to confine the stern of a ship or other vessel, as to a wharf or buoy. -- Stern frame (Naut.), the framework of timber forms the stern of a ship. -- Stern knee…