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ction for a specific purpose; an authoritative enactment; a regulation; a prescription; a precept; as, the rules of various societies; the rules governing a school; a rule of etiquette or propriety; the rules of cricket. We profess to have embraced a religion which contains the most exact rules for the government of ou…

, to run from one subject to another. Virgil, in his first Georgic, has run into a set of precepts foreign to his subject. Addison.

One who attends a school; one who learns of a teacher; one under the tuition of a preceptor; a pupil; a disciple; a learner; a student. I am no breeching scholar in the schools. Shak.

The canons, precepts, or body of opinion or practice, sanctioned by the authority of a particular class or age; as, he was a gentleman of the old school. His face pale but striking, though not handsome after the schools. A. S. Hardy.

Something taught; precepts; schooling. [Obs.] penser.

not any action a man ought to do, or to forbear, but the Scripture will give him a clear precept or prohibition for it. South. Compared with the knowledge which the Scripteres contain, every other subject of human inquiry is vanity. Buckminster.

r other structure; the line of union, or joint, of two boards, planks, metal plates, etc. Precepts should be so finely wrought together . . . that no coarse seam may discover where they join. Addison.

To refine and exalt; to heighten; to elevate. The precepts of Christianity are . . . so apt to cleanse and sublimate the more gross and corrupt. Dr. H. More.

Compressed into a narrow compass; brief; concise. Let all your precepts be succinct and clear. Roscommon. The shortest and most succinct model that ever grasped all the needs and necessities of mankind. South.

n recommend; these apples are not such as those we saw yesterday; give your children such precepts as tend to make them better. And in his time such a conqueror That greater was there none under the sun. Chaucer. His misery was such that none of the bystanders could refrain from weeping. Macaulay.

A precept; an aphorism; a brief rule.

To direct, as an instructor; to manage, as a preceptor; to guide the studies of; to instruct; to inform; to conduct through a course of studies; as, to teach a child or a class. "He taught his disciples." Mark ix. 31. The village master taught his little school. Goldsmith.

A law; a precept.

A judicial writ or precept directed to the sheriff, requiring him to cause a certain number of qualified persons to appear in court at a specified time, to serve as jurors in said court.

Command; precept; -- now chiefly used in scriptural language. So shall ye perish; because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the Lord your God. Deut. viii. 20.

Authorized by commission, precept, or right; justifiable; defensible; as, the seizure of a thief is always warrantable by law and justice; falsehood is never warrantable. His meals are coarse and short, his employment warrantable, his sleep certain and refreshing. South. -- War"rant*a*ble*ness, n. -- War"rant*bly, adv…

Justificatory mandate or precept; authority; warrant. [R.] Shak. If they disobey precept, that is no excuse to us, nor gives us any warranty . . . to disobey likewise. Kettlewe