Search the Dictionary

1. Could a common grief have indited such expressions South. Hear how learned Greece her useful rules indites. Pope.

upied; busy; assiduous; not slothful or idle; -- commonly implying devotion to lawful and useful labor. Frugal and industrious men are commonly friendly to the established government. Sir W. Temple.

he rudiments or principles; to introduce. Providence would only initiate mankind into the useful knowledge of her treasures, leaving the rest to employ our industry. Dr. H. More. To initiate his pupil into any part of learning, an ordinary skill in the governor is enough. Locke.

at which, is made a means, or is caused to serve a purpose; a medium, means, or agent. Or useful serving man and instrument, To any sovereign state. Shak. The bold are but the instruments of the wise. Dryden.

Usefulness or agency, as means to an end; instrumentality. [R.] Hammond.

The most common and most useful metallic element, being of almost universal occurrence, usually in the form of an oxide (as hematite, magnetite, etc.), or a hydrous oxide (as limonite, turgite, etc.). It is reduced on an enormous scale in three principal forms; viz., cast iron, steel, and wrought iron. Iron usually app…

an clover, or Japan pea (Bot.), a cloverlike plant (Lespedeza striata) from Eastern Asia, useful for fodder, first noticed in the Southern United States about 1860, but now become very common. During the Civil War it was called variously Yankee clover and Rebel clover. -- Japan earth. See Catechu. -- Japan ink, a kin…

navoidable, in distinction from sportive exercise; hard, muscular effort directed to some useful end, as agriculture, manufactures, and like; servile toil; exertion; work. God hath set Labor and rest, as day and night, to men Successive. Milton.

and allied genera. They have delicate, lacelike wings and brilliant eyes. Their larvæ are useful in destroying aphids. Called also lace-winged fly, and goldeneyed fly.

o habits, conduct, or circumstances; as, to live in ease or affluence; to live happily or usefully. O death, how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that liveth at rest in his possessions! Ecclus. xli. 1.

roximate; empirical. See the 2d Note under Geometric. Mechanical effect, effective power; useful work exerted, as by a machine, in a definite time. -- Mechanical engineering. See the Note under Engineering. -- Mechanical maneuvers (Mil.), the application of mechanical appliances to the mounting, dismounting, and movi…

n memory; that which reminds or recalls to memory; a souvenir. Seasonable mementos may be useful. Bacon.

. Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud. 1 Kings xviii. 27. Let not ambition mock their useful toil. Gray.

ld World lizard of the genus Varanus; esp., the Egyptian species (V. Niloticus), which is useful because it devours the eggs and young of the crocodile. It is sometimes five or six feet long.

Useful. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Worn out; weakened or exhausted by use; past usefulness; as, old shoes; old clothes.

Anything set on, or added, as an ornament or as a useful appendage. [Obs.] Johnson.

of ordinary judgment; an ordinary book. An ordinary lad would have acquired little or no useful knowledge in such a way. Macaulay. Ordinary seaman (Naut.), one not expert or fully skilled, and hence ranking below an able seaman.

of or away from; to grow too large, or too aged, for; as, to outgrow clothing; to outgrow usefulness; to outgrow an infirmity.

he place planted; land brought under cultivation; a piece of ground planted with trees or useful plants; esp., in the United States and West Indies, a large estate appropriated to the production of the more important crops, and cultivated by laborers who live on the estate; as, a cotton plantation; a coffee plantation.…