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The infliction of evil; a sudden calamity; something which produces mental, physical, or financial suffering or loss (esp. when sudden); a buffet. A most poor man, made tame to fortune's blows. Shak. At a blow, suddenly; at one effort; by a single vigorous act. "They lose a province at a blow." Dryden. -- To come to b…

a flame; hence, of the color of burning brimstone, betokening the presence of ghosts or devils; as, the candle burns blue; the air was blue with oaths.

To convert into, or make, good. To bonify evils, or tincture them with good. Cudworth.

A weevil; a worm that breeds in malt, biscuit, etc. [Obs.] Tusser., n. Etym: [F., fr. bouder to pout, be sulky.]

t.] The emigrants [in New York] were scattered on boweries or plantations; and seeing the evils of this mode of living widely apart, they were advised, in 1643 and 1646, by the Dutch authorities, to gather into "villages, towns, and hamlets, as the English were in the habit of doing." Bancroft.

, brimstone; as, brimstone matches. From his brimstone bed at break of day A-walking the devil has gone. Coleridge.

ushed With raven's feather from unwholesome fen. Shak. And from the boughts brush off the evil dew. Milton. To brush aside, to remove from one's way, as with a brush. -- To brush away, to remove, as with a brush or brushing motion. -- To brush up, to paint, or make clean or bright with a brush; to cleanse or improve;…

An evil spirit; a devil or demon. Shak.

e or cause of misery; -- generally applied to events or disasters which produce extensive evil, either to communities or individuals.

To propagate evil reports with a design to injure the reputation of another; to make purposely false charges of some offense or crime.

d in a system of representing geometric quantities, invented by Descartes. -- Cartesian devil, a small hollow glass figure, used in connection with a jar of water having an elastic top, to illustrate the effect of the compression or expansion of air in changing the specific gravity of bodies. -- Cartesion oval (Geom.…

Precept or warning against evil of any kind; exhortation to wariness; advice; injunction. In way of caution I must tell you. Shak. Caution money, money deposited by way of security or guaranty, as by a student at an English university.

One of the generic names of the gigantic ray (Manta birostris), known as devilfish and sea devil. It is common on the coasts of South Carolina, Florida, and farther south. Some of them grow to enormous size, becoming twenty feet of more across the body, and weighing more than a ton.

connected with a place, occupation, character, etc.; as, a child of God; a child of the devil; a child of disobedience; a child of toil; a child of the people.

of preference from two or more objects offered; to elect; as, to choose the least of two evils. Choose me for a humble friend. Pope.

tical influence, authority, etc.; as, to array the power of the church against some moral evil. Remember that both church and state are properly the rulers of the people, only because they are their benefactors. Bulwer.

ior. Pope. Their heads are circled with a short turban. Dampier. So he lies, circled with evil. Coleridge. To circle in, to confine; to hem in; to keep together; as, to circle bodies in. Sir K. Digby.

Vigilance un guarding against evil from every quarter; caution. [Travel] forces circumspectness on those abroad, who at home are nursed in security. Sir H. Wotton.

To quote; to repeat, as a passage from a book, or the words of another. The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose. Shak.

Conducted with secrecy; withdrawn from public notice, usually for an evil purpose; kept secret; hidden; private; underhand; as, a clandestine marriage. Locke.