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To assail with unfriendly speech or writing; to begin a controversy with; to attempt to overthrow or bring into disrepute, by criticism or satire; to censure; as, to attack a man, or his opinions, in a pamphlet.

A court held in Derbyshire, in England, for deciding controversies between miners. Blount.

nding; to conceal; to deceive. Such darkness blinds the sky. Dryden. The state of the controversy between us he endeavored, with all his art, to blind and confound. Stillingfleet.

An elementary principle or maximum; a short, proverbial rule, in law, ethics, or metaphysics. The legal brocard, "Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus," is a rule not more applicable to other witness than to consciousness. Sir W. Hamilton.

A blockhead; a dunce. It is common, to a proverb, to call one who can not be taught, or who continues obstinately ignorant, a buzzard. Goldsmith.

A proverb. [Obs.]

A common saying; a proverb; a saying that has a general currency. I knew a wise man that had it for a byword. Bacon.

To match; to mate in contest; to furnish a complement to; as, to cap text; to cap proverbs. Shak. Now I have him under girdle I'll cap verses with him to the end of the chapter. Dryden.

leet. I am sensible I have not disposed my materials to adbide the test of a captious controversy. Bwike.

ake the corn and leave the chaff behind. Dryden. Old birds are not caught with caff. Old Proverb.

An invitation to engage in a contest or controversy of any kind; a defiance; specifically, a summons to fight a duel; also, the letter or message conveying the summons. A challenge to controversy. Goldsmith.

] Nores. Thet char is chared, as the good wife said when she had hanged her husband. Old Proverb.

Strife; contention; controversy. [Obs.] P. Plowman.

cceptation. T. Fuller Claw me, claw thee, stand by me and I will stand by you; -- an old proverb. Tyndale. To claw away, to scold or revile. "The jade Fortune is to be clawed away for it, if you should lose it." L'Estrange. To claw (one) on the back, to tickle; to express approbation. (Obs.) Chaucer. -- To claw (one)…

That which ends a dispute or controversy; a decisive argument.

Jurisdiction, or the power given by law to hear and decide controversies.

One who engages in combat. "The mighty combatants." Milton. A controversy which long survived the original combatants. Macaulay

comers, all who come, or offer, to take part in a matter, especially in a contest or controversy. "To prove it against all comers." Bp. Stillingfleet.

Mutual agreement to terms or conditions for the settlement of a difference or controversy; also, the terms or conditions of settlement; agreement. Thus we are agreed: I crave our composition may be written. Shak.

To adjust and settle by mutual concessions; to compound. The controversy may easily be compromised. Fuller.