Search the Dictionary

nd Durham. -- County rates, rates levied upon the county, and collected by the boards of guardians, for the purpose of defraying the expenses to which counties are liable, such as repairing bridges, jails, etc. [Eng.] -- County seat, a county town. [U.S.] -- County sessions, the general quarter sessions of the peace f…

One appointed to act as guardian of the estate of a person not legally competent to manage it, or of an absentee; a trustee; a guardian.

A woman who is a guardian or custodian. Burrill.

at top. The object of the player is to lay his stone as near to the mark as possible, to guard that of his partner, which has been well laid before, or to strike off that of his antagonist. Pennant (Tour in Scotland. 1772). Curling irons, Curling tong, an instrument for curling the hair; -- commonly heated when used.…

Relating to custody or guardianship.

A keeping or guarding; care, watch, inspection, for keeping, preservation, or security. A fleet of thirty ships for the custody of the narrow seas. Bacon.

The guard set over a criminal before his execution.

protect; to secure against; attack; to maintain against force or argument; to uphold; to guard; as, to defend a town; to defend a cause; to defend character; to defend the absent; -- sometimes followed by from or against; as, to defend one's self from, or against, one's enemies. The lord mayor craves aid . . . to defe…

anything employed to oppose attack, ward off violence or danger, or maintain security; a guard; a protection. War would arise in defense of the right. Tennyson. God, the widow's champion and defense. Shak.

That which defends; a safeguard. Wars preventive, upon just fears, are true defensive. Bacon. To be on the defensive, To stand on the defensive, to be or stand in a state or posture of defense or resistance, in opposition to aggression or attack.

A defender or an advocate in court; a guardian or protector.

e trust; one who receives a deposit; -- the correlative of depositor. I . . . made you my guardians, my depositaries. Shak. The depositaries of power, who are mere delegates of the people.J.S. Mill.

Given up or forsaken by the natural owner or guardian; left and abandoned; as, derelict lands. The affections which these exposed or derelict children bear to their mothers, have no grounds of nature or assiduity but civility and opinion. Jer. Taylor.

ereafter shall be valid, unless this clause is inserted word for word; -- a precaution to guard against later wills extorted by violence, or obtained by suggestion.

who have their passions in the best discipline, are yet obliged to be constantly on their guard. Rogers.

n by argument; debate; disputation; agitation. The liberty of discussion is the great safeguard of all other liberties. Macaulay. Discussion of a problem or an equation (Math.), the operation of assigning different reasonable values to the arbitrary quantities and interpreting the result. Math. Dict.…

of that which ennobles; to degrade. An unworthy behavior degrades and disennobles a man. Guardian.

disinclination to the fair sex. Arbuthnot. Having a disinclination to books or business. Guardian.

A trench made in the earth by digging, particularly a trench for draining wet land, for guarding or fencing inclosures, or for preventing an approach to a town or fortress. In the latter sense, it is called also a moat or a fosse.

ce of a person or family. The personal and domiciliary rights of the citizen scrupulously guarded. Motley. Domiciliary visit (Law), a visit to a private dwelling, particularly for searching it, under authority.