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In a sharp manner,; keenly; acutely. They are more sharply to be chastised and reformed than the rude Irish. Spenser. The soldiers were sharply assailed with wants. Hayward. You contract your eye when you would see sharply. Bacon.

The quality or condition of being sharp; keenness; acuteness.

A shooting with great precision and effect; hence, a keen contest of wit or argument.

Able or clever in practical affairs; sharp in business; astute; sharp-witted; sagacious; keen; as, a shrewd observer; a shrewd design; a shrewd reply. Professing to despise the ill opinion of mankind creates a shrewd suspicion that we have deserved it. Secker.

Keen; severe; poignant; as, smart pain.

Fig.: Sharp; keen; severe; as, a tart reply; tart language; a tart rebuke. Why art thou tart, my brother Bunyan.

A person of a keen, irritable temper. To catch a tartar, to lay hold of, or encounter, a person who proves too strong for the assailant. [Colloq.]

sation excited in the teeth by grating sounds, and by the touch of certain substances, as keen acids. -- Tooth key, an instrument used to extract teeth by a motion resembling that of turning a key. -- Tooth net, a large fishing net anchored. [Scot.] Jamieson. -- Tooth ornament. (Arch.) Same as Dogtooth, n., 2.Tooth…

Fig.: Keen; biting; severe; as, trenchant wit.

To have a sudden, sharp, local pain, like a twitch; to suffer a keen, darting, or shooting pain; as, the side twinges.

as is imparted to linen, silk, metals, etc. See Water, v. t., 3, Damask, v. t., and Damaskeen.

To make sharp, keen, or eager; to excite; to stimulate; as, to whet the appetite or the courage. Since Cassius first did whet me against Cæsar, I have not slept. Shak. To whet on, To whet forward, to urge on or forward; to instigate. Shak.

To apply that which hurts keenly to; to lash, as with sarcasm, abuse, or the like; to apply cutting language to. They would whip me with their fine wits. Shak.

Hence, to make rough or uneven in any way. A keen north wind that, blowing dry, Wrinkled the face of deluge, as decayed. Milton. Then danced we on the wrinkled sand. Bryant. To wrinkle at, to sneer at. [Obs.] Marston.

mething that gives or enhances a pleasant taste, or the taste itself; an appetizer; also, keen enjoyment; relish; gusto. Almighty Vanity! to thee they owe Their zest of pleasure, and their balm of woe. Young. Liberality of disposition and conduct gives the highest zest and relish to social intercourse. Gogan.…