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Done or made by stealth, or without proper authority; made or introduced fraudulently; clandestine; stealthy; as, a surreptitious passage in an old manuscript; a surreptitious removal of goods. -- Sur`rep*ti"tious*ly, adv.

suspicion; adapted to raise suspicion; giving reason to imagine ill; questionable; as, an author of suspicious innovations; suspicious circumstances. I spy a black, suspicious, threatening could. Shak.

The dominion or authority of a suzerain; paramount authority.

To influence or direct by power and authority; by persuasion, or by moral force; to rule; to govern; to guide. The will of man is by his reason swayed. Shak. She could not sway her house. Shak. This was the race To sway the world, and land and sea subdue. Dryden.

k. To swear by, to place great confidence in a person or thing; to trust implicitly as an authority. "I simply meant to ask if you are one of those who swear by Lord Verulam." Miss Edgeworth. -- To swear off, to make a solemn vow, or a serious resolution, to abstain from something; as, to swear off smoking. [Slang]…

Hence, the emblem of judicial vengeance or punishment, or of authority and power. He [the ruler] beareth not the sword in vain. Rom. xiii. 4. She quits the balance, and resigns the sword. Dryden.

A collection of short essays by different authors on a common topic; -- so called from the appellation given to the philosophical dialogue by the Greeks.

An association of persons officially authorized to undertake some duty or to negotiate some business; also, an association of persons who combine to carry out, on their own account, a financial or industrial project; as, a syndicate of bankers formed to take up and dispose of an entire issue of government bonds.…

An assembly or council having civil authority; a legislative body. It hath in solemn synods been decreed, Both by the Syracusians and ourselves, To admit no traffic to our adverse towns. Shak. Parent of gods and men, propitious Jove! And you, bright synod of the powers above. Dryden.

Of or pertaining to a synod; transacted in, or authorized by, a synod; as, synodical proceedings or forms. "A synodical epistle." Bp. Stillingfleet.

In a synodical manner; in a synod; by the authority of a synod. "Synodically agreed upon." R. Nelson.

Any one of the authors of the three synoptic Gospels, which give a history of our Lord's life and ministry, in distinction from the writer of John's Gospel, which gives a fuller record of his teachings.

to, a given person or thing under pain of death, -- an interdict of religious origin and authority, formerly common in the islands of Polynesia; interdiction. [Written also tabu.]

speak impertinently. [Colloq.] To talk of, to relate; to tell; to give an account of; as, authors talk of the wonderful remains of Palmyra. "The natural histories of Switzerland talk much of the fall of these rocks, and the great damage done." Addison. -- To talk to, to advise or exhort, or to reprove gently; as, I wi…

A charge, especially a pecuniary burden which is imposed by authority. Specifically: --

s of a state, by government, or on the members of a corporation or company, by the proper authority; the raising of revenue; also, a system of raising revenue.

An ancient and celebrated Christian hymn, of uncertain authorship, but often ascribed to St. Ambrose; -- so called from the first words "Te Deum laudamus." It forms part of the daily matins of the Roman Catholic breviary, and is sung on all occasions of thanksgiving. In its English form, commencing with words, "We prai…

ed as a place of public worship; a church. Can he whose life is a perpetual insult to the authority of God enter with any pleasure a temple consecrated to devotion and sanctified by prayer Buckminster.

l to save inviolate, or not to injure; -- with of. "Tender of property." Burke. The civil authority should be tender of the honor of God and religion. Tillotson.

Tenebrific. Authors who are tenebrificous stars. Addison.