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common; mean. You grow cheap in every subject's eye. Dryden. Dog cheap, very cheap, -- a phrase formed probably by the catachrestical transposition of good cheap. [Colloq.]

An inversion of the order of words or phrases, when repeated or subsequently referred to in a sentence; thus, If e'er to bless thy sons My voice or hands deny, These hands let useful skill forsake, This voice in silence die. Dwight.

ted with care, and due attention to preference; deliberately chosen. Choice word measured phrase. Wordsworth.

Imitation of, or resemblance to, the style or action Cicero; a Ciceronian phrase or expression. "Great study in Ciceronianism, the chief abuse of Oxford." Sir P. Sidney.

A var. spelling of Coin, Quoin, a corner, wedge; -- chiefly used in the phrase coign of vantage, a position advantageous for action or observation.

ation; conversational; hence, unstudied; informal; as, colloquial intercourse; colloquial phrases; a colloquial style. -- Col*lo"qui*al*ly, adv. His [Johnson's] colloquial talents were, indeed, of the highest order. Macaulay.

Assistance; relief; support. [Obs. except in the phrase "aid and comfort." See 5 below.] Shak.

Complimentary. [Obs.] Languages . . . grow rich and abundant in complimental phrases, and such froth. Sir H. Wotton. -- Com`pli*men"tal*ly, adv. [Obs.] Boyle. -- Com`pli*men"tal*ness, n. [Obs.] Hammond.

tty tissue is one of its many forms, and cartilage and bone are sometimes included by the phrase.

e sense or intention of; to interpret; to understand. Thus we are put to construe and paraphrase our own words to free ourselves either from the ignorance or malice of our enemies. Bp. Stilingfleet. And to be dull was construed to be good. Pope.

Something contracted or abbreviated, as a word or phrase; -- as, plenipo for plenipotentiary; crim. con. for criminal conversation, etc.

A word or phrase used in conversation; a colloqualism.

A simpleton. [Obs.] It is a most simple animal; whence are derived our usual phrases of cony and cony catcher. Diet's Dry Dinner (1599).

A thing (only in phrase below). Rule of Coss, an old name for Algebra. Etym: [It. regola di cosa rule of thing, the unknown quantity being called the cosa, or the thing.]

To put into some form of language; to express; to phrase; -- used with in and under. A well-couched invective. Milton. I had received a letter from Flora couched in rather cool terms. Blackw. Mag.

Color; -- chiefly used in a few French phrases, as couler de rose, color of rose; and hence, adjectively, rose-colored; roseate.

A private signal, word, or phrase, which must be given in order to pass a sentry; a watchword.

to deceive, usually by small arts, or in a pitiful way. He had cozened the world by fine phrases. Macualay. Children may be cozened into a knowledge of the letters. Locke. Goring loved no man so well but that he would cozen him, and expose him to public mirth for having been cozened. Clarendon.

d obtained in Guiana, which takes a high polish. McElrath. -- To catch a crab (Naut.), a phrase used of a rower: (a) when he fails to raise his oar clear of the water; (b) when he misses the water altogether in making a stroke.

A word or phrase caught up by a party or faction and repeated for effect; as, the party cry of the Tories. All now depends upon a good cry. Beaconsfield.