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An evil doer; one who commits a crime; one subject to public prosecution and punishment; a criminal.

us injury to the property of another; -- an offense at common law. Wharton. -- Malicious prosecution or arrest (Law), a wanton prosecution or arrest, by regular process in a civil or criminal proceeding, without probable cause. Bouvier.

al arrangements; as, the Horatian meters; a dactylic meter. The only strict antithesis to prose is meter. Wordsworth.

Of, pertaining to, or resembling, Milton, or his writings; as, Miltonic prose.

themselves by murder on persons obnoxious to them. The society was broken up by criminal prosecutions in 1876.

A new convert or proselyte; -- a name given by the early Christians, and still given by the Roman Catholics, to such as have recently embraced the Christian faith, and been admitted to baptism, esp. to converts from heathenism or Judaism.

To discontinue by entering a nolle prosequi; to decline to prosecute.

A plea, by the defendant, in a criminal prosecution, which, without admitting guilt, subjects him to all the consequences of a plea of quilty.

To decline or fail to prosecute; to allow to be dropped (said of a suit); to enter judgment against (a plaintiff who fails to prosecute); as, the plaintiff was non-prossed.

Default of apperance, as in court, to prosecute or defend; failure to appear.

An abbreviation of Non prosequitur.

and counted; melodious; musical. [Obs.] Such prompt eloquence Flowed from their lips, in prose or numerous verse. Milton. -- Nu"mer*ous*ly, adv. -- Nu"mer*ous*ness, n.

tling; hence, to excel in splendor, as of dress. [R.] And with poetic trappings grace thy prose, Till it outmantle all the pride of verse. Cowper.

An alliance or association of persons for the prosecution of an undertaking or a business on joint account; a company; a firm; a house; as, to form a partnership.

A carrying on; prosecution. [Obs.]

The act of persevering; persistence in anything undertaken; continued pursuit or prosecution of any business, or enterprise begun. "The king-becoming graces . . . perseverance, mercy, lowliness." Shak. Whose constant perseverance overcame Whate'er his cruel malice could invent. Milton.

through the whole extent of; to be diffused throughout. A spirit of cabal, intrigue, and proselytism pervaded all their thoughts, words, and actions. Burke.

Pindaric. Too extravagant and Pindarical for prose. Cowley.

n rhyme, and characterized by imagination and poetic diction; -- contradistinguished from prose; as, the poems of Homer or of Milton.

the imaginative or the rhythmical quality of poetry; as, a poetical composition; poetical prose. Poetic license. See License, n., 4.