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To impart strength and hope to; to encourage; to relieve; to console; to cheer, Light excelleth in comforting the spirits of men. Bacon. That we may be adle to comfort them that are in any affliction. 2 Cor. i. 4. (Rev. Ver. ). A perfect woman, nobly planned, To warn, to comfort, and command. Wordsworth.…

rison; as, his later work does not compare with his earlier. I should compare with him in excellence. Shak.

nd proper merit of the heavenly glory, cannot be found in any the best, most perfect, and excellent of created beings. Bp. Bull.

A stamp; an indication; a sign. [Obs.] The most certain consignations of an excellent virtue. Jer. Taylor.

An assemblage of splendors or excellences. The constellations of genius had already begun to show itself . . . which was to shed a glory over the meridian and close of Philip's reign. Prescott.

rate care; to meditate on; to study. To love, at least contemplate and admire, What I see excellent. Milton. We thus dilate Our spirits to the size of that they contemplate. Byron.

opposition, or over against, in order to show the differences between, or the comparative excellences and defects of; to compare by difference or contrariety of qualities; as, to contrast the present with the past.

One who converses much, or who excels in conversation. Byron.

mitated, transcribed, or reproduced; a pattern, model, or example; as, his virtues are an excellent copy for imitation. Let him first learn to write, after a copy, all the letters. Holder.

uence of some party or interest; as, every vote counts; accidents count for nothing. This excellent man . . . counted among the best and wisest of English statesmen. J. A. Symonds.

Of superior excellence; having qualities to be boasted of. [Colloq.] One of our crack speakers in the Commons. Dickens.

An individual of marked ability or excellence, esp. in some sport; as, he is a crackajack at tennis. [Slang]

A skillful hand; a dabster; an expert. [Colloq.] One excels at a plan or the titlepage, another works away at the body of the book, and the therd is a dab at an index. Goldsmith.

made chiefly at Damascus, having a variegated appearance of watering, and proverbial for excellence. -- Damascus iron, or Damascus twist, metal formed of thin bars or wires of iron and steel elaborately twisted and welded together; used for making gun barrels, etc., of high quality, in which the surface, when polishe…

r. If a picture is daubed with many bright and glaring colors, the vulgar admire it is an excellent piece. I. Watts. A lame, imperfect piece, rudely daubed over. Dryden.

To lead away from purity or excellence; to corrupt in character or principles; to mar; to vitiate; to pollute; to seduce; as, to debauch one's self by intemperance; to debauch a woman; to debauch an army. Learning not debauched by ambition. Burke. A man must have got his conscience thoroughly debauched and hardened bef…

Gradual failure of health, strength, soundness, prosperity, or of any species of excellence or perfection; tendency toward dissolution or extinction; corruption; rottenness; decline; deterioration; as, the decay of the body; the decay of virtue; the decay of the Roman empire; a castle in decay. Perhaps my God, though h…

an ordinary elegance; to array; to adorn; to embellish. Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency. Job xl. 10. And deck my body in gay ornaments. Shak. The dew with spangles decked the ground. Dryden.

The act or state of falling off or declining from excellence or perfection; deterioration; decay; decline. "The declination of monarchy." Bacon. Summer . . . is not looked on as a time Of declination or decay. Waller.

iminished gradually, in size, degree, number, duration, etc., or in strength, quality, or excellence; as, they days decrease in length from June to December. He must increase, but I must decrease. John iii. 30.