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der a different class or order. -- To fall upon. (a) To attack. [See To fall on.] (b) To attempt; to have recourse to. "I do not intend to fall upon nice disquisitions." Holder. (c) To rush against.

To strive or contened for victory, with armies or in single combat; to attempt to defeat, subdue, or destroy an enemy, either by blows or weapons; to contend in arms; -- followed by with or against. You do fight against your country's foes. Shak. To fight with thee no man of arms will deign. Milton.…

To attempt, when second or third player, to make a lower card answer the purpose of a higher, when an intermediate card is out, risking the chance of its being held by the opponent yet to play.

To attempt to catch fish; to be employed in taking fish, by any means, as by angling or drawing a net.

To treat with praise or blandishments; to gratify or attempt to gratify the self-love or vanity of, esp. by artful and interested commendation or attentions; to blandish; to cajole; to wheedle. When I tell him he hates flatterers, He says he does, being then most flattered. Shak. A man that flattereth his neighbor, spr…

To let the foot slip from a ball, when attempting to give a tight croquet.

To run from danger; to attempt to escape; to flee; as, an enemy or a coward flies. See Note under Flee. Fly, ere evil intercept thy flight. Milton. Whither shall I fly to escape their hands Shak.

To render (an effort or attempt) vain or nugatory; to baffle; to outwit; to balk; to frustrate; to defeat. And by foiled. Dryden. Her long locks that foil the painter's power. Byron.

called in F. enfants perdus, in G. verloren posten) selected, usually from volunteers, to attempt a breach, scale the wall of a fortress, or perform other extraordinarily perilous service; also, a desperate case or enterprise.

uctive of no advantage or good effect; vain; idle; useless; unprofitable; as, a fruitless attempt; a fruitless controversy. They in mutual accusation spent The fruitless hours. Milton.

ining a purpose; to disappoint; to defeat; to baffle; as, to frustrate a plan, design, or attempt; to frustrate the will or purpose. Shall the adversary thus obtain His end and frustrate thine Milton.

To feel or grope about; to make awkward attempts to do or find something. Adams now began to fumble in his pockets. Fielding.

nd use, The twelve good rules, the royal game of goose. Goldsmith. A wild goose chase, an attempt to accomplish something impossible or unlikely of attainment. -- Fen goose. See under Fen. -- Goose barnacle (Zoöl.), any pedunculated barnacle of the genus Anatifa or Lepas; -- called also duck barnacle. See Barnacle, a…

To search or attempt to find something in the dark, or, as a blind person, by feeling; to move about hesitatingly, as in darkness or obscurity; to feel one's way, as with the hands, when one can not see. We grope for the wall like the blind. Is. lix. 10. To grope a little longer among the miseries and sensualities ot a…

ot out by digging; -- followed by up; as, to grub up trees, rushes, or sedge. They do not attempt to grub up the root of sin. Hare.

An opinion as to anything, formed without sufficient or decisive evidence or grounds; an attempt to hit upon the truth by a random judgment; a conjecture; a surmise. A poet must confess His art 's like physic -- but a happy guess. Dryden.

f being half; incompleteness. [R.] As soon as there is any departure from simplicity, and attempt at halfness, or good for me that is not good for him, my neighbor feels the wrong. Emerson.

act, or to become surety for another's debt or good behavior. -- To take in hand. (a) To attempt or undertake. (b) To seize and deal with; as, he took him in hand. -- To wash the hands of, to disclaim or renounce interest in, or responsibility for, a person or action; as, to wash one's hands of a business. Matt. xxvi…

To catch, or attempt to catch, birds by means of hawks trained for the purpose, and let loose on the prey; to practice falconry. A falconer Henry is, when Emma hawks. Prior.

A hazardous attempt or situation; hazard. [Obs.] Herself had run into that hazardize. Spenser.