Search the Dictionary

Neglect of execution; nonperformance; as, the inexecution of a treaty. Spence.

d also perpetual fugues, so constructed that their ends lead to their beginnings, and the performance may be incessantly repeated. Moore (Encyc. of Music).

. . . Itself instinct with spirit, but convoyed By four cherubic shapes. Milton. A noble performance, instinct with sound principle. Brougham.

The arrangement of a musical composition for performance by a number of different instruments; orchestration; instrumental composition; composition for an orchestra or military band.

Recital or performance a second time; repetition. Bacon. What needs this iteration, woman Shak.

g just; conformity to the principles of righteousness and rectitude in all things; strict performance of moral obligations; practical conformity to human or divine law; integrity in the dealings of men with each other; rectitude; equity; uprightness. Justice and judgment are the haditation of thy throne. Ps. ixxxix. 11…

A readiness in performance; aptness at doing something; skill; facility; dexterity. The fellow . . . has not the knack with his shears. B. Jonson. The dean was famous in his time, And had a kind of knack at rhyme. Swift.

A knockabout performer or performance. [Theat. Slang]

omplishment; that which demands effort. Being a labor of so great a difficulty, the exact performance thereof we may rather wish than look for. Hooker.

ier. Burrill. Legal cap. See under Cap. -- Legal tender. (a) The act of tendering in the performance of a contract or satisfaction of a claim that which the law prescribes or permits, and at such time and place as the law prescribes or permits.

of a garment; to enlarge; to suffer to run out, as a cord. (c) To lease; to give out for performance by contract, as a job. (d) To divulge. -- To let slide, to let go; to cease to care for. [Colloq.] " Let the world slide." Shak.

lace of a superior in his absence; a representative of, or substitute for, another in the performance of any duty. The lawful magistrate, who is the vicegerent or lieutenant of God. Abp. Bramhall.

ple, or force, by which the organs of animals and plants are started and continued in the performance of their several and coöperative functions; the vital force, whether regarded as physical or spiritual.

sore lips. -- Lip service, expression by the lips of obedience and devotion without the performance of acts suitable to such sentiments. -- Lip wisdom, wise talk without practice, or unsupported by experience. -- Lip work. (a) Talk. (b) Kissing. [Humorous] B. Jonson. -- Lip make a lip, to drop the under lip in sul…

The systematic use of antiseptics in the performance of operations and the treatment of wounds; -- so called from Joseph Lister, an English surgeon.

by an engine, as of a steamship, of the coal consumed, and of other items relating to the performance of machinery during a given time.

nt or sorcery. Hence: Seemingly requiring more than human power; imposing or startling in performance; producing effects which seem supernatural or very extraordinary; having extraordinary properties; as, a magic lantern; a magic square or circle. The painter's magic skill. Cowper.

inferior tribunal, or to some corporation or person exercising authority, commanding the performance of some specified duty.

A dramatic performance, formerly in vogue, in which the actors wore masks and represented mythical or allegorical characters.

The work or performance of a mason; as, good or bad masonry; skillful masonry.