Search the Dictionary

Ruling; governing; prevailing; controlling; predominant; as, the dominant party, church, spirit, power. The member of a dominant race is, in his dealings with the subject race, seldom indeed fraudulent, . . . but imperious, insolent, and cruel. Macaulay. Dominant estate or tenement (Law), the estate to which a servitud…

The time of retiring to rest; time of repose. Cavendish. At the downlying, at the travail in childbirth. [Scot.]

The act of drawing; also, the thing drawn. Same as Draught. Everything available for draft burden. S. G. Goodrich.

cking stool. The practice of ducking began in the latter part of the 15th century, and prevailed until the early part of the 18th, and occasionally as late as the 19th century. Blackstone. Chambers.

hill of drifting sand usually formed on the coats, but often carried far inland by the prevailing winds. [Written also dun.] Three great rivers, the Rhine, the Meuse, and the Scheldt, had deposited their slime for ages among the dunes or sand banks heaved up by the ocean around their mouths. Motley.…

That portion of the Christian church which prevails in the countries once comprised in the Eastern Roman Empire and the countries converted to Christianity by missionaries from them. Its full official title is The Orthodox Catholic Apostolic Eastern Church. It became estranged from the Western, or Roman, Church over th…

To beseech or supplicate successfully; to prevail upon by prayer or solicitation; to persuade. It were a fruitless attempt to appease a power whom no prayers could entreat. Rogers.

elope of its tangents. push the envelope. It is used to refer to the maximum performance available at the current state of the technology, and therefore refers to a class of machines in general, not a specific machine. push the envelope Increase the capability of some type of machine or system; -- usu. by technological…

Spreading widely, or generally prevailing; affecting great numbers, as an epidemic does; as, epidemic rage; an epidemic evil. It was the epidemical sin of the nation. Bp. Burnet.

That can be sustained or made available or effective in a court of equity, or upon principles of equity jurisprudence; as, an equitable estate; equitable assets, assignment, mortgage, etc. Abbott.

A period of time in which a new order of things prevails; a signal stage of history; an epoch. Painting may truly be said to have opened the new era of culture. J. A. Symonds.

Available for making exchanges; ratable. "An exchangeable value." J. S. Mill.

To utilize; to make available; to get the value or usefulness out of; as, to exploit a mine or agricultural lands; to exploit public opinion. [Recent]

Having one's mental imagery prevailingly of the visual type; having one's thoughts and memories mainly in the form of visual images. -- Eye"-mind`ed*ness, n.

as, to fabricate a lie or story. Our books were not fabricated with an accomodation to prevailing usages. Paley.

confidence; -- said of words, promises, etc. When fair words and good counsel will not prevail on us, we must be frighted into our duty. L' Estrange.

fort or a supporting body of troops). (b) To have recourse to (a reserved fund, or some available expedient or support). -- To fall calm, to cease to blow; to become calm. -- To fall down. (a) To prostrate one's self in worship. "All kings shall fall down before him." Ps. lxxii. 11. (b) To sink; to come to the groun…

The prevailing mode or style, especially of dress; custom or conventional usage in respect of dress, behavior, etiquette, etc.; particularly, the mode or style usual among persons of good breeding; as, to dress, dance, sing, ride, etc., in the fashion. The innocent diversions in fashion. Locke. As now existing, fashion…

Conforming to the fashion or established mode; according with the prevailing form or style; as, a fashionable dress.

a felon; malignant; fierce; malicious; cruel; traitorous; disloyal. Vain shows of love to vail his felon hate. Pope.