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stir up a hornet's nest, to provoke the attack of a swarm of spiteful enemies or spirited critics. [Colloq.]

s been received as a gift, in order to ascertain his age; -- hence, to accept favors in a critical and thankless spirit. Lowell. -- To take horse. (a) To set out on horseback. Macaulay. (b) To be covered, as a mare. (c) See definition 7 (above).

thyrion; also, above measure, abnormally great, excessive; as, hyperæmia, hyperbola, hypercritical, hypersecretion.

Hypocritically. [R.] Sylvester.

ion or sympathy; unfeeling, or not showing feeling; without sensation. "Impassible to the critic." Sir W. Scott. Secure of death, I should contemn thy dart Though naked, and impassible depart. Dryden.

apable of being reduced to the form of a liquid by pressure; -- said of any gas above its critical point; -- also particularly of oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon monoxide, formerly regarded as incapable of liquefaction at any temperature or pressure.

ction of the pneumogastric on the respiratory center. I would not have you consider these criticisms as inhibitory. Lamb. Inhibitory nerves (Physiol.), those nerves which modify, inhibit, or suppress a motor or secretory act already in progress.

A pursuer; a persecutor; a censorious critic. [Obs.] Bailey.

Not being in truth what one appears to be; not sincere; dissembling; hypocritical; disingenuous; deceitful; false; -- said of persons; also of speech, thought; etc.; as, insincere declarations.

ere; want of sincerity, or of being in reality what one appears to be; dissimulation; hypocritical; deceitfulness; hollowness; untrustworthiness; as, the insincerity of a professed friend; the insincerity of professions of regard. What men call policy and knowledge of the world, is commonly no other thing than dissimul…

To look upon; to view closely and critically, esp. in order to ascertain quality or condition, to detect errors, etc., to examine; to scrutinize; to investigate; as, to inspect conduct.

Characterized by invection; critical; denunciatory; satirical; abusive; railing.

inst some person or thing); to utter censorious and bitter language; to attack with harsh criticism or reproach, either spoken or written; to use invectives; -- with against; as, to inveigh against character, conduct, manners, customs, morals, a law, an abuse. All men inveighed against him; all men, except court vassal…

To give occasion for; as, to invite criticism.

A Chinese household divinity; a Chinese idol. "Critic in jars and josses." Colman (1761). Joss house, a Chinese temple or house for the Chinese mode of worship. -- Joss stick, a reed covered with a paste made of the dust of odoriferous woods, or a cylinder made wholly of the paste; -- burned by the Chinese before an i…

ho discerns properties or relations with skill and readiness; a connoisseur; an expert; a critic. A man who is no judge of law may be a good judge of poetry, or eloquence, or of the merits of a painting. Dryden.

A point of time; esp., one made critical or important by a concurrence of circumstances; hence, a crisis; an exigency. "Extraordinary junctures." Addison. In such a juncture, what can the most plausible and refined philosophy offer Berkeley.

e or branch of knowledge, or of a given country or period; as, the literature of Biblical criticism; the literature of chemistry.

rrative, in prose or verse, are effected. The machinery, madam, is a term invented by the critics, to signify that part which the deities, angels, or demons, are made to act in a poem. Pope.

To take particular notice; to observe critically; to note; to remark. Mark, I pray you, and see how this man seeketh maschief. 1 Kings xx. 7.