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To know; to understand. [Obs.] To skill the arts of expressing our mind. Barrow.

Low, vulgar, unauthorized language; a popular but unauthorized word, phrase, or mode of expression; also, the jargon of some particular calling or class in society; low popular cant; as, the slang of the theater, of college, of sailors, etc.

To express amusement, pleasure, moderate joy, or love and kindness, by the features of the face; to laugh silently. He doth nothing but frown . . . He hears merry tales and smiles not. Shak. She led to see the doughty hero slain. Pope. When last I saw thy young blue eyes, they smiled. Byron.

The act of snarling; a growl; a surly or peevish expression; an angry contention.

To show contempt by turning up the nose, or by a particular facial expression.

To snort. [Obs.] "Resentment expressed by snifting." Johnson.

To turn up the nose and inhale air, as an expression of contempt; hence, to take offense. Do the enemies of the church rage and snuff Bp. Hall.

Very; in a high degree; that is, in such a degree as can not well be expressed; as, he is so good; he planned so wisely.

Expressing gentleness, tenderness, or the like; mild; conciliatory; courteous; kind; as, soft eyes. A soft answer turneth away wrath. Prov. xv. 1. A face with gladness overspread, Soft smiles, by human kindness bred. Wordsworth.

Fitted to awaken or express serious reflections; marked by seriousness; serious; grave; devout; as, a solemn promise; solemn earnestness. Nor wanting power to mitigate and swage With solemn touches troubled thoughts. Milton. There reigned a solemn silence over all. Spenser.

or less portion or sum; composed of a quantity or number which is not stated; -- used to express an indefinite quantity or number; as, some wine; some water; some persons. Used also pronominally; as, I have some. Some theoretical writers allege that there was a time when there was no such thing as society. Blackstone.…

the meanness and familiarty of the thoughts, has something beautiful and sonorous in the expression. Addison. There is nothing of the artificial Johnsonian balance in his style. It is as often marked by a pregnant brevity as by a sonorous amplitude. E. Everett.

Readily; willingly; -- in this sense used with would, or some other word expressing will. I would as soon see a river winding through woods or in meadows, as when it is tossed up in so many whimsical figures at Versailles. Addison. As soon as, or So soon as, imediately at or after another event. "As soon as he came nig…

for the loss of some good; pained for some evil; feeling regret; -- now generally used to express light grief or affliction, but formerly often used to express deeper feeling. "I am sorry for my sins." Piers Plowman. Ye were made sorry after a godly manner. 2 Cor. vii. 9. I am sorry for thee, friend; 't is the duke's p…

To utter words or articulate sounds, as human beings; to express thoughts by words; as, the organs may be so obstructed that a man may not be able to speak. Till at the last spake in this manner. Chaucer. Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth. 1 Sam. iii. 9.

ion, liberty, and property. Macaulay. In consequence of their greater command of specious expression. J. Morley.

The faculty of uttering articulate sounds or words; the faculty of expressing thoughts by words or articulate sounds; the power of speaking. There is none comparable to the variety of instructive expressions by speech, wherewith man alone is endowed for the communication of his thoughts. Holder.

s shoulders, to raise the shoulders so as to give them a square appearance, -- a movement expressing contempt or dislike. Sir W. Scott. -- To square the circle (Math.), to determine the exact contents of a circle in square measure. The solution of this famous problem is now generally admitted to be impossible.…

Expressed in a brief, pointed manner. Staccato and peremptory [literary criticism]. G. Eliot.

f dignity, and indicating dislike. The word is used, however, especially by the poets, to express dignity of step. With manly mien he stalked along the ground. Dryden. Then stalking through the deep, He fords the ocean. Addison. I forbear myself from entering the lists in which he has long stalked alone and unchallenge…