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To support. [Obs. & R.] That on a staff his feeble steps did frame. Spenser.

roll, as a sail, close to the yard, stay, or mast, or, as a flag, close to or around its staff, securing it there by a gasket or line. Totten.

A weapon with a scythe-shaped blade, and a separate long sharp point, mounted on a long staff and carried by foot soldiers.

me popularly given to any flag which hangs from a crosspiece or frame instead of from the staff or the mast itself. Standards and gonfalons, 'twixt van and rear, Stream in the air. Milton.

the fingers or arms; to catch to take possession of. Thy hand is made to grasp a palmer's staff. Shak.

A point some distance below the top of a mast or staff; as, a flag a half-mast (a token of mourning, etc.).

r civil officer; a superintendent; a supervisor; an overseer. Inspector general (Mil.), a staff officer of an army, whose duties are those of inspection, and embrace everything relative to organization, recruiting, discharge, administration, accountability for money and property, instruction, police, and discipline.…

A flag, containing only the union, without the fly, usually hoisted on a jack staff at the bowsprit cap; -- called also union jack. The American jack is a small blue flag, with a star for each State.

ching up to heaven (Gen. xxviii. 12); -- also called Israel. And Jacob said . . . with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I am become two bands. Gen. xxxii. 9, 10. Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel. Gen. xxxii. 28. Jacob's ladder. (a) (Bot.) A perennial herb of the genus Polemonium (P. coerule…

sculptured beard of Jove. Prior. (c) the cloverlike Anthyllis Barba-Jovis. -- Jupiter's staff (Bot.), the common mullein; -- so called from its long, rigid spike of yellow blossoms.

To fatten; to enrich. [The oak] with his nuts larded many a swine. Spenser. Falstaff sweats to death. And lards the lean earth as he walks along. Shak.

bs. except in special phrases.] Bacon. Leger line (Mus.), a line added above or below the staff to extend its compass; -- called also added line.

line of railroad. Leveling instrument. See Surveyor's level, under Level, n. -- Leveling staff, a graduated rod or staff used in connection with a leveling instrument for measuring differences of level between points.

usage, a party which favored the emancipation of the slaves. -- Liberty pole, a tall flagstaff planted in the ground, often surmounted by a liberty cap. [U. S.] -- Moral liberty, that liberty of choice which is essential to moral responsibility. -- Religious liberty, freedom of religious opinion and worship.…

A pointed forked staff, shod with iron at the foot, to hold a lighted match for firing cannon. [Written also lintstock.]

A curved staff used by the augurs in quartering the heavens.

sees Andromache overwhelmed with terror, sends her for consolation to the loom and the distaff. Rambler.

A heavy staff or club of metal; a spiked club; -- used as weapon in war before the general use of firearms, especially in the Middle Ages, for breaking metal armor. Chaucer. Death with his mace petrific . . . smote. Milton.

A mop or sponge attached to a jointed staff for swabbing out a cannon.

A yard, staff, or rod, used as a measure. [Obs.] Shak.