Search the Dictionary

Use or application; import; intention; signification, as of a word or phrase. Finite and infinite seem . . . to be attributed primarily, in their first designation, only to those things have parts. Locke.

By design; purposely; intentionally; -- opposed to accidentally, ignorantly, or inadvertently.

light; as, to detect a crime or a criminal; to detect a mistake in an account. Plain good intention . . . is as easily discovered at the first view, as fraud is surely detected at last. Burke. Like following life through creatures you dissect, You lose it in the moment you detect. Pope.

To resolve on; to have a fixed intention of; also, to cause to come to a conclusion or decision; to lead; as, this determined him to go immediately.

That which is seen at a second view; a meaning beyond the literal sense; the second intention; a hidden signification. Sir T. Browne.

Ecclesiastical waste; impairing of church property by an incumbent, through neglect or by intention. The business of dilapidations came on between our bishop and the Archibishop of York. Strype.

; to balk; as, a man is disappointed of his hopes or expectations, or his hopes, desires, intentions, expectations, or plans are disappointed; a bad season disappoints the farmer of his crops; a defeat disappoints an enemy of his spoil. I was disappointed, but very agreeably. Macaulay.

a false show; to mask; as, to disguise anger; to disguise one's sentiments, character, or intentions. All God's angels come to us disguised. Lowell.

Bent on haste; intent on speedy execution of business or any task; indicating haste; quick; as, dispatchful looks. Milton.

y; as, the Patriarchal, Mosaic, and Christian dispensations. Neither are God's methods or intentions different in his dispensations to each private man. Rogers.

The act of disregarding, or the state of being disregarded; intentional neglect; omission of notice; want of attention; slight. The disregard of experience. Whewell.

Separate in place; not conjunct; not united by growth or otherwise; -- with from. The intention was that the two armies which marched out together should afterward be distinct. Clarendon.

Evil intent, embracing both malice and fraud. See Culpa. Wharton.

A residence at a particular place accompanied with an intention to remain there for an unlimited time; a residence accepted as a final abode. Wharton.

A word or words unintentionally doubled or set up a second time.

endency of an act, argument, course of conduct, or the like; object aimed at or intended; intention; hence, also, import or meaning of a sentence or discourse; aim. He has made the drift of the whole poem a compliment on his country in general. Addison. Now thou knowest my drift. Sir W. Scott.

e Shall he dwindle, peak and pine. Shak. Religious societies, though begun with excellent intentions, are said to have dwindled into factious clubs. Swift.

Seriousness; reality; fixed determination; eagerness; intentness. Take heed that this jest do not one day turn to earnest. Sir P. Sidney. And given in earnest what I begged in jest. Shak. In earnest, serious; seriously; not in jest; earnestly.

The state or quality of being earnest; intentness; anxiety. An honest earnestness in the young man's manner. W. Irving.

Denoting a mere result or consequence, as distinguished from telic, which denotes intention or purpose; thus the phrase so that it was fulfilled," is ecbatic; if rendered "in order that it might be." etc., is telic.