Search the Dictionary

To establish by authority, as by usage or public opinion; to sanction; as, idioms authorized by usage.

power, esp. the burning of a heretic. It was usually held on Sunday, and was made a great public solemnity by impressive forms and ceremonies.

ons in religion, it doth avert them from the church. Bacon. Till ardent prayer averts the public woe. Prior.

One who has charge of the baggage at a railway station or upon a line of public travel. [U.S.]

empt. Twenty-five years ago the vile ejaculation, Bah! was utterly unknown to the English public. De Quincey.

A public proclamation or edict; a public order or notice, mandatory or prohibitory; a summons by public proclamation.

Any tribunal; as, the bar of public opinion; the bar of God.

ew York, about the middle of the 19th century, which was hostile to extension of slavery, public debts, corporate privileges, etc., and supported Van Buren against Cass for president in 1848; --opposed to Hunker. [Political Cant, U. S.]

Counselor at law; a counsel admitted to plead at the bar, and undertake the public trial of causes, as distinguished from an attorney or solicitor. See Attorney. [Eng.]

Very modest, or modest excess; constitutionally disposed to shrink from public notice; indicating extreme or excessive modesty; shy; as, a bashful person, action, expression.

rized by having the spores borne on a basidium. It embraces those fungi best known to the public, such as mushrooms, toadstools, etc.

A building used by the Romans as a place of public meeting, with court rooms, etc., attached.

The ground work the first or fundamental principle; that which supports. The basis of public credit is good faith. A. Hamilton.

to (a) the Batavi, an ancient Germanic tribe; or to (b) as, a Batavian legion. Batavian Republic, the name given to Holland by the French after its conquest in 1795.

ning an apartment or a series of apartments arranged for bathing. Among the ancients, the public baths were of amazing extent and magnificence. Gwilt.

An officer in a university, who precedes public processions of officers and students. [Eng.]

beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wisbed in himself to die. Jonah iv. 8. Public envy seemeth to beat chiefly upon ministers. Bacon.

To ascertain and declare, by a public process and decree, that a deceased person is one of "the blessed" and is to be reverenced as such, though not canonized.

A collection or group of dogs exhibited to the public; -- so named because the animals are usually placed on benches or raised platforms.

To apply closely or with interest; to direct. To bend his mind to any public business. Temple. But when to mischief mortals bend their will. Pope.