Search the Dictionary

An inclosure with mud or stone walls, for keeping cattle; a fortified inclosure. [Obs.] Spenser.

A bank or dam to keep back water.

To corroborate; to confirm. -- To bear up, to support; to keep from falling or sinking. "Religious hope bears up the mind under sufferings." Addison.

A short rein looped over the check hook or the hames to keep the horse's head up; -- called in the United States a checkrein.

A keeper of bears. See Bearherd. [R.] Shak.

To keep from motion, or stop the progress of, by the stilling of the wind; as, the fleet was becalmed.

Anciently, a post or pin on each side of the bed to keep the clothes from falling off. See Bedstaff. Brewer.

One who keeps bees.

The second crust formed in port and some other wines after long keeping. It consists of pure, shining scales of tartar, supposed to resemble the wing of a bee.

A vow; a promise. [Obs.] The time is come that I should send it her, if I keep the behest that I have made. Paston.

d for a great variety of purposes; as, with the air pump, and for holding gases, also for keeping the dust from articles exposed to view.

he lower gun deck. Ham. Nav. Encyc. -- To give (the land or any object) a wide berth, to keep at a distance from it.

To lay up in store; to deposit for safe keeping; to stow; to place; to put. "He bestowed it in a pouch." Sir W. Scott. See that the women are bestowed in safety. Byron.

To keep watch over; to keep awake. [Obs.] Gower.

olland. Why choose we, then, like bilanders to creep Along the coast, and land in view to keep Dryden.

t is usual for the master to sign two, three, or four copies of the bill; one of which he keeps in possession, one is kept by the shipper, and one is sent to the consignee of the goods. -- Bill of mortality, an official statement of the number of deaths in a place or district within a given time; also, a district requ…

A book in which a person keeps an account of his notes, bills, bills of exchange, etc., thus showing all that he issues and receives.

t to service. To bind over, to put under bonds to do something, as to appear at court, to keep the peace, etc. -- To bind to, to contract; as, to bind one's self to a wife. -- To bind up in, to cause to be wholly engrossed with; to absorb in.

voke a quarrel; to defy. "Do you bite your thumb at us " Shak. -- To bite the tongue, to keep silence. Shak.

To guard; to keep; to protect. [Obs.]