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Hence, to fasten firmly; to make firm, strong, or immovable; as, to rivet friendship or affection. Rivet and nail me where I stand, ye powers! Congreve. Thus his confidence was riveted and confirmed. Sir W. Scott.

To be firmly fixed; to be established. If any irregularity chanced to intervene and to cause misappehensions, he gave them not leave to root and fasten by concealment. Bp. Fell.

Having taken root; firmly implanted; fixed in the heart. "A rooted sorrow." Shak. -- Root"*ed*ly, adv. -- Root"ed*ness, n.

Wearily; heavily; firmly. [Obs.] In go the spears full sadly in arest. Chaucer.

A rock made of sand more or less firmly united. Common or siliceous sandstone consists mainly of quartz sand.

Remaining in one place, especially when firmly attached to some object; as, the oyster is a sedentary mollusk; the barnacles are sedentary crustaceans. Sedentary spider (Zoöl.), one of a tribe of spiders which rest motionless until their prey is caught in their web.

To fix firmly; to make fast, permanent, or stable; to render motionless; to give an unchanging place, form, or condition to. Specifically: --

e Libyc Hammon shrinks his horn. Milton. To shrink on (Mach.), to fix (one piece or part) firmly around (another) by natural contraction in cooling, as a tire on a wheel, or a hoop upon a cannon, which is made slightly smaller than the part it is to fit, and expanded by heat till it can be slipped into place.…

Lax; not tense; not hard drawn; not firmly extended; as, a slack rope.

. "At one slight bound." Milton. Slight is the subject, but not so the praise. Pope. Some firmly embrace doctrines upon slight grounds. Locke.

To slide; to lose one's footing or one's hold; not to tread firmly; as, it is necessary to walk carefully lest the foot should slip.

Having the constituent parts so compact, or so firmly adhering, as to resist the impression or penetration of other bodies; having a fixed form; hard; firm; compact; -- opposed to fluid and liquid or to plastic, like clay, or to incompact, like sand.

In a solid manner; densely; compactly; firmly; truly.

Firmly fixed in, or founded upon, the thruth; true; genuine; real; also, truthful; faithful. [Archaic] -- Sooth"fast`ness, n. [Archaic] "In very soothfastness." Chaucer. Why do not you . . . bear leal and soothfast evidence in her behalf, as ye may with a clear conscience! Sir W. Scott.

Firmly established; not easily moved, shaken, or overthrown; fixed; as, a stable government. In this region of chance, . . . where nothing is stable. Rogers.

The quality or state of being stable, or firmly established; stability.

In a stable manner; firmly; fixedly; steadily; as, a government stably settled.

act. Wycherley. -- To stand fast, to be fixed; to be unshaken or immovable. -- To stand firmly on, to be satisfied or convinced of. "Though Page be a secure fool, and stands so firmly on his wife's frailty." Shak. -- To stand for. (a) To side with; to espouse the cause of; to support; to maintain, or to profess or a…

To stop from motion or falling; to prop; to fix firmly; to hold up; to support. Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side. Ex. xvii. 12. Sallows and reeds . . . for vineyards useful found To stay thy vines. Dryden.

Firmly fixed or established; fast fixed; firm. "This steadfast globe of earth." Spenser.