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To destroy; to defeat. [R.] Ayliffe.

A quashing; a defeating. [Obs.]

To undertake a thing falsely and deceitfully, with the purpose of defeating or destroying it.

Tending to defeat or hinder; obviating; preventing the access of; as, a medicine preventive of disease. Physic is either curative or preventive. Sir T. Browne. Preventive service, the duty performed by the armed police in guarding the coast against smuggling. [Eng]

Defeat; rout; overthrow. [Obs.] Bacon.

Sudden check; unexpected repulse; defeat; refusal; repellence; rejection of solicitation.

ter; reputable conduct. In the article of danger, it is as reputable to elude an enemy as defeat one. Broome.

To strive against; to endeavor to counteract, defeat, or frustrate; to act in opposition to; to oppose. God resisteth the proud. James iv. 6. Contrary to his high will Whom we resist. Milton.

a ship or fleet from an enemy for the purpose of avoiding an engagement or escaping after defeat.

umstances or character; especially, a change from better to worse; misfortune; a check or defeat; as, the enemy met with a reverse. The strange reverse of fate you see; I pitied you, now you may pity me. Dryden. By a reverse of fortune, Stephen becomes rich. Lamb.

The state of being disorganized and thrown into confusion; -- said especially of an army defeated, broken in pieces, and put to flight in disorder or panic; also, the act of defeating and breaking up an army; as, the rout of the enemy was complete. thy army . . . Dispersed in rout, betook them all to fly. Daniel. To th…

Such a change of anything as destroys it, or entirely defeats its object, or unfits it for use; destruction; overthrow; as, the ruin of a ship or an army; the ruin of a constitution or a government; the ruin of health or hopes. "Ruin seize thee, ruthless king!" Gray.

a furtive way; to lurk. "Want skulks in holes and crevices." W. C. Bryant. Discovered and defeated of your prey, You skulked behind the fence, and sneaked away. Dryden.

In games of chance and skill: To defeat (an opponent) (as in cards) so that he fails to gain a point, or (in checkers) to get a king. [Colloq.

To defeat (opponents at cards) by winning all the tricks of a deal or a hand. Hoyle. To slam to, to shut or close with a slam. "He slammed to the door." W. D. Howells.

mmunists], signifies a fellowship in gain and loss, in honor and dishonor, in victory and defeat, a being, so to speak, all in the same boat. Trench. The solidarity . . . of Breton and Welsh poetry. M. Arnold.

ening a larger quantity. -- To throw up the sponge, to give up a contest; to acknowledge defeat; -- from a custom of the prize ring, the person employed to sponge a pugilist between rounds throwing his sponge in the air in token of defeat. [Cant or Slang] "He was too brave a man to throw up the sponge to fate." Lowell…

sue for the double honor of a triumph and the consulship. C. Middleton. The Indians were defeated and sued for peace. Jefferson.

To endure without failing or yielding; to bear up under; as, to sustain defeat and disappointment.

er time and strength in tackling windmills under conditions the most fitted to insure her defeat. Dublin Univ. Mag.