Search the Dictionary

A leap; a spring; a hostile advance. The bold Ascalonite Fled from his lion ramp. Milton.

To be disobedient to authority; to assume a hostile or insubordinate attitude; to revolt. Hoe could my hand rebel against my heart How could you heart rebel against your reason Dryden.

flanking defenses, -- used esp. in fortifying tops of hills and passes, and positions in hostile territory.

To meet unexpectedly; to encounter in a hostile manner; to come in collision; to skirmish.

the advance of; to repulse as, to repel an enemy or an assailant. Hippomedon repelled the hostile tide. Pope. They repelled each other strongly, and yet attracted each other strongly. Macaulay.

Disposed to fight against; hostile; at war with; being at variance; contrary; inconsistent; refractory; disobedient; also, distasteful in a high degree; offensive; -- usually followed by to, rarely and less properly by with; as, all rudeness was repugnant to her nature. [His sword] repugnant to command. Shak. There is…

To become excited, opposed, or hostile; to go to war; to take up arms; to rebel. At our heels all hell should rise With blackest insurrection. Milton. No more shall nation against nation rise. Pope.

Having no ruth; cruel; pitiless. Their rage the hostile bands restrain, All but the ruthless monarch of the main. Pope. -- Ruth"less*ly, adv. -- Ruth"less*ness, n.

ussulman; in the Middle Ages, the common term among Christians in Europe for a Mohammedan hostile to the crusaders. Saracen's consound (Bot.), a kind of ragewort (Senecio Saracenicus), anciently used to heal wounds.

No longer hostile; friendly. [Obs.] Beau & Fl. Sociable bird, or Sociable weaver (Zoöl.), a weaver bird which builds composite nests. See Republican, n., 3. (b).

The act of striking; a blow; a hit; a knock; esp., a violent or hostile attack made with the arm or hand, or with an instrument or weapon. His hand fetcheth a stroke with the ax to cut down the tree. Deut. xix. 5. A fool's lips enter into contention and his mouth calleth for strokes. Prov. xviii. 6. He entered and won…

To inclose, as a body of troops, between hostile forces, so as to cut off means of communication or retreat; to invest, as a city.

s thoughts. Milton. Flag of truce (Mil.), a white flag carried or exhibited by one of the hostile parties, during the flying of which hostilities are suspended. -- Truce of God, a suspension of arms promulgated by the church, which occasionally took place in the Middle Ages, putting a stop to private hostilities at or…

o direct against; as, to turn one's arguments against himself. (b) To make unfavorable or hostile to; as, to turn one's friends against him. -- To turn a hostile army, To turn the enemy's flank, or the like (Mil.), to pass round it, and take a position behind it or upon its side. -- To turn a penny, or To turn an hon…

Not friendly; not kind or benevolent; hostile; as, an unfriendly neighbor.

sworth. And as he leads, the following navy veers. Dryden. an ordinary community which is hostile or friendly as passion or as interest may veer about. Burke. To veer and haul (Naut.), to vary the course or direction; -- said of the wind, which veers aft and hauls forward. The wind is also said to veer when it shifts w…

en by a party of Indians going on a warlike expedition. Schoolcraft. On the warpath, on a hostile expedition; hence, colloquially, about to attack a person or measure.

to anything; an enthusiast; a fanatical partisan. Zealots for the one [tradition] were in hostile array against zealots for the other. Sir J. Stephen. In Ayrshire, Clydesdale, Nithisdale, Annandale, every parish was visited by these turbulent zealots. Macaulay.