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Rare; valuable; costly. [Obs.] Full many a deynté horse had he in stable. Chaucer.

Odious; pernicious; detestable. Begin, murderer; . . . leave thy damnable faces. Shak.

Hateful; detestable; abominable. But, O, what damned minutes tells he o'er Who doats, yet doubts, suspects, yet strongly loves. Shak.

or over, to or into. Thou shalt deliver Pharaoh's cup into his hand. Gen. xl. 13. The constables have delivered her over. Shak. The exalted mind All sense of woe delivers to the wind. Pope.

In a detestable manner.

An explosion or sudden report made by the instantaneous decomposition or combustion of unstable substances' as, the detonation of gun cotton.

was the difference It was a contention in public. Shak. Away therefore went I with the constable, leaving the old warden and the young constable to compose their difference as they could. T. Ellwood.

Containing two equivalents of sulphur; as, dithionic acid. Dithionic acid (Chem.), an unstable substance, H2S2O6, known only in its solutions, and in certain well-defined salts.

n machinery acting as a catch or clutch; especially, the carrier of a lathe, also, an adjustable stop to change motion, as in a machine tool.

A costume worn as a disguise at masquerades, consisting of a robe with a hood adjustable at pleasure.

ing different minds at different times; unsettled; undetermined. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. Jas. i. 8.

A stable.

Exceedingly wicked; outrageous; atrocious; monstrous; as, an enormous crime. That detestable profession of a life so enormous. Bale.

A large stable or lodge for horses. Johnson.

To make stable or firm; to fix immovably or firmly; to set (a thing) in a place and make it stable there; to settle; to confirm. So were the churches established in the faith. Acts xvi. 5. The best established tempers can scarcely forbear being borne down. Burke. Confidence which must precede union could be established…

irements; to be distinguished by superiority; as, to excel in mathematics, or classics. Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel. Gen. xlix. 4. Then peers grew proud in horsemanship t' excel. Pope.

Deserving to be execrated; accursed; damnable; detestable; abominable; as, an execrable wretch. "Execrable pride." Hooker. -- Ex"e*cra*ble*ness, n. -- Ex"e*cra*bly, adv.

ce evil against, or to imprecate evil upon; to curse; to protest against as unholy or detestable; hence, to detest utterly; to abhor; to abominate. "They . . . execrate their lct." Cowper.

ng; spreading; enlarging. Expanding bit, Expanding drill (Mech.), a bit or drill made adjustable for holes of various sizes; one which can be expanded in diameter while boring. -- Expanding pulley (Mach.), a pulley so made, as in sections, that its diameter can be increased or diminished.

Firmly fixed; closely adhering; made firm; not loose, unstable, or easily moved; immovable; as, to make fast the door. There is an order that keeps things fast. Burke.