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Displaying grace or beauty in form or action; elegant; easy; agreeable in appearance; as, a graceful walk, deportment, speaker, air, act, speech. High o'er the rest in arms the graceful Turnus rode. Dryden. -- Grace"ful*ly, adv. Grace"ful*ness, n.

f shift (Mus.), a position of the hand, between the open position and the first shift, in playing on the violin and kindred instruments. See Shift. -- Half step (Mus.), a semitone; the smallest difference of pitch or interval, used in music. -- Half tide, the time or state of the tide equally distant from ebb and flo…

To play the droll; to make sport by playing ludicrous tricks.

Playing at hazard; gaming; gambling. [R.] Chaucer.

To harass or annoy by playing abusive or shameful tricks upon; to humiliate by practical jokes; -- used esp. of college students; as, the sophomores hazed a freshman.

One of a series of playing cards, distinguished by the figure or figures of a heart; as, hearts are trumps.

The histronic art; stageplaying. W. Black.

A lively tune played on a hornpipe, for dancing; a tune adapted for such playing. Many a hornpipe he tuned to his Phyllis. Sir W. Raleigh.

A suffix used to from present participles; as, singing, playing.

The act or manner of playing upon musical instruments; performance; as, his instrumentation is perfect.

Singing or playing in good tune or otherwise; as, her intonation was false.

The knave of a suit of playing cards.

One of a set of straws of strips of ivory, bone, wood, etc., for playing a child's game, the jackstraws being thrown confusedly together on a table, to be gathered up singly by a hooked instrument, without touching or disturbing the rest of the pile. See Spilikin.

A metal counter used in playing cards.

(Card Playing) In the games of spoilfive and forty-five, to win the game by taking all five tricks; also, to play to win all five tricks, losing what has been already won if unsuccessful.

A playing card having the picture of a king; as, the king of diamonds.

A playing card marked with the figure of a servant or soldier; a jack. Knave child, a male child. [Obs.] Chaucer.

A small ball of clay, baked hard and oiled, used as a marble by boys in playing. [Prov. Eng. & U. S.] Halliwell. Bartlett.

A playing card bearing the figure of a knight; the knave or jack. [Obs.] Carpet knight. See under Carpet. -- Knight of industry. See Chevalier d'industrie, under Chevalier. -- Knight of Malta, Knight of Rhodes, Knight of St. John of Jerusalem. See Hospitaler. -- Knight of the post, one who gained his living by givin…

Playing on the surface; touching lightly; gliding over. "A lambent flame." Dryden. "A lambent style." Beaconsfield.