Search the Dictionary

ill ask the more. Luke xii. 48. An exigence of state asks a much longer time to conduct a design to maturity. Addison.

To fix, specify, select, or designate; to point out authoritatively or exactly; as, to assign a limit; to assign counsel for a prisoner; to assign a day for trial. All as the dwarf the way to her assigned. Spenser. It is not easy to assign a period more eventful. De Quincey.

Capable of being assigned, allotted, specified, or designated; as, an assignable note or bill; an assignable reason; an assignable quantity.

The act of assuring; a declaration tending to inspire full confidence; that which is designed to give confidence. Whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. Acts xvii. 31. Assurances of support came pouring in daily. Macaulay.

To declare to, solemnly; to assert to (any one) with the design of inspiring belief or confidence. I dare assure thee that no enemy Shall ever take alive the noble Brutus. Shak.

ory act as will apparently result, if not extrinsically hindered, in a crime which it was designed to effect. Wharton.

Apprised; informed; cognizant; conscious; as, he was aware of the enemy's designs. Aware of nothing arduous in a task They never undertook. Cowper.

The primary of secondary central line of any design. Anticlinal axis (Geol.), a line or ridge from which the strata slope downward on the two opposite sides. -- Synclinal axis, a line from which the strata slope upward in opposite directions, so as to form a valley. -- Axis cylinder (Anat.), the neuraxis or essential…

against a particular horse or horses, that some one of all the other horses, collectively designated "the field", will win. -- To back the oars, to row backward with the oars. -- To back a rope, to put on a preventer. -- To back the sails, to arrange them so as to cause the ship to move astern. -- To back up, to su…

A company of persons united in any common design, especially a body of armed men. Troops of horsemen with his bands of foot. Shak.

An aneroid barometer for use with accompanying graphic diagrams and printed directions designed to aid mariners to interpret the indications of the barometer so as to determine the existence of a violent storm at a distance of several hundred miles.

The lower part of a complete architectural design, as of a monument; also, the lower part of any elaborate piece of furniture or decoration.

A game of ball, so called from the bases or bounds ( four in number) which designate the circuit which each player must endeavor to make after striking the ball.

Designating or conforming to either of the scales used by the French chemist Antoine Baumé in the graduation of his hydrometers; of or relating to Baumé's scales or hydrometers. There are two Baumé hydrometers. One, which is used with liquids heavier than water, sinks to 0º in pure water, and to 15º in a 15 per cent sa…

In the United States navy, a sick-bay nurse; -- now officially designated as hospital apprentice.

To daub over; to besmear or soil with anything thick and dirty. Bedaub foul designs with a fair varnish. Barrow.

The strikes of the bell which mark the time; or the time so designated.

f the subject. All the better. See under All, adv. -- Better half, an expression used to designate one's wife. My dear, my better half (said he), I find I must now leave thee. Sir P. Sidney. -- To be better off, to be in a better condition. -- Had better. (See under Had).

United States, a paper issued by a State, on the mere faith and credit of the State, and designed to circulate as money. No State shall "emit bills of credit." U. S. Const. Peters. Wharton. Bouvier (b) Among merchants, a letter sent by an agent or other person to a merchant, desiring him to give credit to the bearer f…

four; common time. -- Binary nomenclature (Nat. Hist.), nomenclature in which the names designate both genus and species. -- Binary scale (Arith.), a uniform scale of notation whose ratio is two. -- Binary star (Astron.), a double star whose members have a revolution round their common center of gravity. -- Binary…