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ject upon its first promulgation. Hooker. Ultimate belief, a first principle incapable of proof; an intuitive truth; an intuition. Sir W. Hamilton.

The State of Delaware; -- a popular sobriquet. It is said, though the story lacks proof, to have taken its origin from the insistence of a Delaware Revolutionary captain, named Caldwell, that no cock could be truly game unless the mother was a blue hen, whence Blue Hen's Chickens came to be a nickname for the people of…

Fig.: Anything sharp or unpleasant to the feelings. The thorns and briers of reproof. Cowper. Brier root, the root of the southern Smilax laurifolia and S. Walleri; -- used for tobacco pipes. -- Cat brier, Green brier, several species of Smilax (S. rotundifolia, etc.) -- Sweet brier (Rosa rubiginosa). See Sweetbrier.…

, forming an arch above the orbit. And his arched brow, pulled o'er his eyes, With solemn proof proclaims him wise. Churchill.

[Obs. & R.] Shak. Beast of burden, an animal employed in carrying burdens. -- Burden of proof Etym: [L. onus probandi] (Law), the duty of proving a particular position in a court of law, a failure in the performance of which duty calls for judgment against the party on whom the duty is imposed.

a watch or clock, which drives the hand but permits it to be moved in setting. -- Cannon proof, impenetrable by cannon balls. -- Cannon shot. (a) A cannon ball. (b) The range of a cannon.

A mark [^] used by writers and proof readers to indicate that something is interlined above, or inserted in the margin, which belongs in the place marked by the caret.

A bombproof chamber, usually of masonry, in which cannon may be placed, to be fired through embrasures; or one capable of being used as a magazine, or for quartering troops.

Corrective punishment; chastisement; reproof; pungent criticism. The keenest castigation of her slanderers. W. Irving.

To question or interrogate; to examine or try by questions; -- sometimes with a view to reproof, by eliciting from a person answers which condemn his own conduct. Swift.

e hither, chide from, or chide away, to cause to come, or to drive away, by scolding or reproof.

To refer to or specify, as for support, proof, illustration, or confirmation. The imperfections which you have cited. Shak.

forcible; powerful; not easily reasisted. No better nor more cogent reason. Dr. H. More. Proofs of the most cogent description. Tyndall. The tongue whose strains were cogent as commands, Revered at home, and felt in foreign lands. Cowper.

I. Newton. Composition cloth, a kind of clotch covered with a preparation making it waterproof. -- Composition deed, an agreement for composition between a debtor and several creditors. -- Composition plane (Crystallog.), the plane by which the two individuals of a twin crystal are united in their reserved positions…

Joint attestation; proof. [Obs.] Sir T. Browne.

the law makes so peremptorily that it will not allow it to be overthrown by any contrary proof, however strong.

ensure; blame; disapprobation. In every other sense of condemnation, as blame, censure, reproof, private judgment, and the like. Paley.

which gives new strength or assurance; as to a statement or belief; additional evidence; proof; convincing testimony. Trifles light as air Are to the jealous confirmations strong As proofs of holy writ. Shak.

To put face to face; to cause to face or to meet; as, to confront one with the proofs of his wrong doing.

The shotproof pilot house of a war vessel.