Search the Dictionary

A sudden movement or pull; a pull up; as, the sailor gave his trousers a hitch.

vil; wicked; wrong; iniquitious; naughtly; bad; improper. Of his own body he was ill, and gave The clergy ill example. Shak.

To bathe; to wash freely; to immerce. And gave her to his daughters to imbathe In nectared lavers strewed with asphodel. Milton.

urgency. [Obs.] Those heavenly precepts which our Lord and Savior with so great instancy gave. Hooker.

es fair That range above our mortal state, In circle round the blessed gate, Received and gave him welcome there. Tennyson. Intelligence office, an office where information may be obtained, particularly respecting servants to be hired.

A Mexican name for a variety of Agave rigida, which furnishes a strong coarse fiber; also, the fiber itself, which is called also pita, and Tampico fiber. [Written also istle.]

A Mexican name for the Sisal hemp (Agave rigida, var. Sisalana); also, its fiber. [Written also heniequen.]

A short, sudden pull, thrust, push, twitch, jolt, shake, or similar motion. His jade gave him a jerk. B. Jonson.

ining relative merit or awarding prizes at an exhibition or competition; as, the art jury gave him the first prize. Jury of inquest, a coroner's jury. See Inquest.

lon, in legislating for the Athenians, had an idea of a more perfect constitution than he gave them. Bp. Watson (1805).

ng through, or floating upon, a contiguous substance; buoyancy; -- opposed to gravity. He gave the form of levity to that which ascended; to that which descended, the form of gravity. Sir. W. Raleigh. This bubble by reason of its comparative levity to the fluidity that incloses it, would ascend to the top. Bentley.…

escription or by grant; as, the liberties of the commercial cities of Europe. His majesty gave not an entire county to any; much less did he grant . . . any extraordinary liberties. Sir J. Davies.

e of life was o'er. Trench. To give the lie to. (a) To charge with falsehood; as, the man gave him the lie. (b) To reveal to be false; as, a man's actions may give the lie to his words. -- White lie, a euphemism for such lies as one finds it convenient to tell, and excuses himself for telling.

To cement. "Who gave his blood to lime the stones together." Shak.

One who ate the fruit or leaf of the lotus, and, as a consequence, gave himself up to indolence and daydreams; one of the Lotophagi. The mild-eyed melancholy Lotos-eaters. Tennyson.

earance made by some magic. Chaucer. Celestial magic, a supposed supernatural power which gave to spirits a kind of dominion over the planets, and to the planets an influence over men. -- Natural magic, the art of employing the powers of nature to produce effects apparently supernatural. -- Superstitious, or Geotic,…

The century plant, a species of Agave (A. Americana). See Agave.

A conductor; an officer in the ancient church who gave the signal for the choir to sing, and who beat time with the hand, and regulated the music. Moore (Encyc. of Music.)

To cultivate by manual labor; to till; hence, to develop by culture. [Obs.] To whom we gave the strand for to manure. Surrey. Manure thyself then; to thyself be improved; And with vain, outward things be no more moved. Donne.

first person used as the objective and dative case of the pronoum I; as, he struck me; he gave me the money, or he gave the money to me; he got me a hat, or he got a hat for me.