Search the Dictionary

A protector; a guardian; a presiding genius. [Obs.] Just Apollo, president of verse. Waller.

productions of the earth; the productions of handicraft; the productions of intellect or genius.

Milton. These, wanting wit, affect gravity, and go by the name of solid men. Dryden. The genius of the Italians wrought by solid toil what the myth-making imagination of the Germans had projected in a poem. J. A. Symonds.

tatement; also, characteristic quality, especially such as is derived from the individual genius or the personal character; as, the spirit of an enterprise, of a document, or the like.

Fig.: A means of progress or advancement. These obstacles his genius had turned into stepping-stones. Macaulay. That men may rise on stepping-stones Of their dead selves to higher things. Tennyson.

ad of the bow, in advance; hence, figuratively, in an awkward, blundering manner. A fatal genius for going sternforemost. Lowell.

. "A strain of gallantry." Sir W. Scott. Such take too high a strain at first. Bacon. The genius and strain of the book of Proverbs. Tillotson. It [Pilgrim's Progress] seems a novelty, and yet contains Nothing but sound and honest gospel strains. Bunyan.

or accomplished; also, something done or accomplished by such an effort; as, a stroke of genius; a stroke of business; a master stroke of policy.

Resulting from, or evincing, stupidity; formed without skill or genius; dull; heavy; -- said of things. Observe what loads of stupid rhymes Oppress us in corrupted times. Swift.

; discerning; delicate; refined; subtle. [In this sense now commonly written subtle.] The genius of the Spanish people is exquisitely subtile, without being at all acute; hence there is so much humor and so little wit in their literature. The genius of the Italians, on the contrary, is acute, profound, and sensual, but…

swing." Dryden. To prevent anything which may prove an obstacle to the full swing of his genius. Burke. Full swing. See under Full. -- Swing beam (Railway Mach.), a crosspiece sustaining the car body, and so suspended from the framing of a truck that it may have an independent lateral motion. -- Swing bridge, a form…

To receive into the mind or understanding. "Some bright genius can take in a long train of propositions." I. Watts. (h) To receive regularly, as a periodical work or newspaper; to take. [Eng.] -- To take in hand. See under Hand. -- To take in vain, to employ or utter as in an oath. "Thou shalt not take the name of the…

, or to the present state; sublunary; mundane. Vain labors of terrestrial wit. Spenser. A genius bright and base, Of towering talents, and terrestrial aims. Young.

. Triumphing over death, and chance, and thee, O Time. Milton. On this occasion, however, genius triumphed. Macaulay.

A very large, powerful, and savage extinct bovine animal (Bos urus or primigenius) anciently abundant in Europe. It appears to have still existed in the time of Julius Cæsar. It had very large horns, and was hardly capable of domestication. Called also, ur, ure, and tur.

ose. Milton. The Examiner was ushered into the world by a letter, setting forth the great genius of the author. Addison.

liar temper or temperament; tendency or turn of mind; a particular disposition or cast of genius; humor; strain; quality; also, manner of speech or action; as, a rich vein of humor; a satirical vein. Shak. Certain discoursing wits which are of the same veins. Bacon. Invoke the Muses, and improve my vein. Waller.…

ryden. I do not know a man more to be venerated for uprightness of heart and loftiness of genius. Sir W. Scott.

another; readily applied to a new task, or to various subjects; many-sided; as, versatile genius; a versatile politician. Conspicuous among the youths of high promise . . . was the quick and versatile [Charles] Montagu. Macaulay.

A person of eminent sense or knowledge; a man of genius, fancy, or humor; one distinguished for bright or amusing sayings, for repartee, and the like. In Athens, where books and wits were ever busier than in any other part of Greece, I find but only two sorts of writings which the magistrate cared to take notice of; th…