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To flatter by approving; to cajole; to impose on; to humbug. [Colloq. & Low]

The act of identifying, or proving to be the same; also, the state of being identified.

ars (or as against the crown thirty years) should not be liable to impeachment merely by proving that they had not been enjoyed before.

The act of disapproving; disapprobation.

s, to improve one's time; to improve his means. Shak. We shall especially honor God by improving diligently the talents which God hath committed to us. Barrow. A hint that I do not remember to have seen opened and improved. Addison. The court seldom fails to improve the oppotunity. Blackstone. How doth the little busy…

The act of improving; advancement or growth; promotion in desirable qualities; progress toward what is better; melioration; as, the improvement of the mind, of land, roads, etc. I look upon your city as the best place of improvement. South. Exercise is the chief source of improvement in all our faculties. Blair.…

stitute, or into which they may be united collectively; the operation of discovering and proving general propositions; the scientific method. -- Philosophical induction, the inference, or the act of inferring, that what has been observed or established in respect to a part, individual, or species, may, on the ground o…

ge vat into which spent tan liquor or ooze is pumped. -- Junk wad (Mil.), a wad used in proving cannon; also used in firing hot shot.

The act of justifying or the state of being justified; a showing or proving to be just or conformable to law, justice, right, or duty; defense; vindication; support; as, arguments in justification of the prisoner's conduct; his disobedience admits justification. I hope, for my brother's justification, he wrote this but…

k the outlines of a figure. Free lance, in the Middle Ages, and subsequently, a knight or roving soldier, who was free to engage for any state or commander that purchased his services; hence, a person who assails institutions or opinions on his own responsibility without regard to party lines or deference to authority.…

thing the skin, or an injured or diseased part, either for a medicinal purpose, or for improving its appearance.

worms which infest the lungs and air passages of cattle, sheep, and other animals, often proving fatal. The lungworm of cattle (Strongylus micrurus) and that of sheep (S. filaria) are the best known.

y of picric acid, used as a shell explosive in the British service; -- so named from the proving grounds at Lydd, England.

ng anything; hence, manner; way; mode; as, a method of teaching languages; a method of improving the mind. Addison.

Hence, roving; wandering; nomad; as, migratory habits; a migratory life. Migratory locust (Zoöl.) See Locust. -- Migratory thrush (Zoöl.), the American robin. See Robin.

One who instructs in the art of improving or using the memory.

A roving or going about in the night. Gayton.

Roving; nomadic.

made to call attention, to point out something to notice, or the like; a sign, or token, proving or giving evidence.

Of or pertaining to the Pelasgians, an ancient people of Greece, of roving habits.