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Constant in pursuit or exertion; persevering; calmly diligent; as, patient endeavor. Whatever I have done is due to patient thought. Sir I. Newton.

or thrusting, in distinction from pulling; to crowd or compel by a gradual and continued exertion; to bear upon; to squeeze; to compress; as, we press the ground with the feet when we walk; we press the couch on which we repose; we press substances with the hands, fingers, or arms; we are pressed in a crowd. Good meas…

To breathe quick and hard, or with puffs, as after violent exertion. The ass comes back again, puffing and blowing, from the chase. L' Estrange.

allow water, by pushing with a pole against the bottom; to push or propel (anything) with exertion. Livingstone.

ed or accomplished; the end or aim to which the view is directed in any plan, measure, or exertion; view; aim; design; intention; plan. He will his firste purpos modify. Chaucer. As my eternal purpose hath decreed. Milton. The flighty purpose never is o'ertook Unless the deed go with it. Shak.

sparing; extreme; as, radical evils; radical reform; a radical party. The most determined exertions of that authority, against them, only showed their radical independence. Burke.

esistance to some other action; depression or exhaustion of vital force consequent on overexertion or overstimulation; heightened activity and overaction succeeding depression or shock.

s the fruit of labor or of works; -- in a good or a bad sense; as, to reap a benefit from exertions. Why do I humble thus myself, and, suing For peace, reap nothing but repulse and hate Milton.

of quiet or repose; a cessation from motion or labor; tranquillity; as, rest from mental exertion; rest of body or mind. Chaucer. Sleep give thee all his rest! Shak.

n affection of the windpipe of a horse, causing a loud, peculiar noise in breathing under exertion; the making of the noise so caused. See Roar, v. i., 5.

To move smoothly through the air; to glide through the air without apparent exertion, as a bird. As is a winged messenger of heaven, . . . When he bestrides the lazy pacing clouds, And sails upon the bosom of the air. Shak.

To weaken, as a joint, ligament, or muscle, by sudden and excessive exertion, as by wrenching; to overstrain, or stretch injuriously, but without luxation; as, to sprain one's ankle.

A sudden and energetic effort, as in an emergency; an increased exertion for a brief space. The long, steady sweep of the so-called "paddle" tried him almost as much as the breathless strain of the spurt. T. Hughes.

To excite as if with a goad; to excite, rouse, or animate, to action or more vigorous exertion by some pungent motive or by persuasion; as, to stimulate one by the hope of reward, or by the prospect of glory. To excite and stimulate us thereunto. Dr. J. Scott.

To injure by drawing, stretching, or the exertion of force; as, the gale strained the timbers of the ship.

Overexertion; excessive tension; strain. [Obs.] Spenser.

The quality or state of being strong; ability to do or to bear; capacity for exertion or endurance, whether physical, intellectual, or moral; force; vigor; power; as, strength of body or of the arm; strength of mind, of memory, or of judgment. All his [Samson's] strength in his hairs were. Chaucer. Thou must outlive Th…

Distress; the act of distraining; also, the thing distrained. Stress of voice, unusual exertion of the voice. -- Stress of weather, constraint imposed by continued bad weather; as, to be driven back to port by stress of weather. -- To lay stress upon, to attach great importance to; to emphasize. "Consider how great a…

Exertion or contention for superiority; contest of emulation, either by intellectual or physical efforts. Doting about questions and strifes of words. 1 Tim. vi. 4. Thus gods contended -- noble strife -Who most should ease the wants of life. Congreve.

To make efforts; to use exertions; to endeavor with earnestness; to labor hard. Was for this his ambition strove To equal Cæsar first, and after, Jove Cowley.