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Any position giving the enemy such advantage that the troops occupying it must either surrender or be cut to pieces. Farrow.

chalk, usually sold in small prisms or cylinders. Let no day pass over you . . . without giving some strokes of the pencil or the crayon. Dryden.

Believing; giving credence; credulous. [R.] If with too credent esr you list songs. Shak.

Giving a title or claim to credit or confidence; accrediting. Their credential letters on both sides. Camden.

er which the upper of a boot or shoe is stretched to the required shape. (b) A device for giving hair a wavy apperance. (c) A machine for crimping or ruffling textile fabrics.

A hinge having one strap perpendicular and the other strap horizontal giving it the form of an Egyptian or T cross.

Giving trouble; vexatious. [Obs.] A clud of cumbrous gnats. Spenser. -- Cum"brous*ly, adv. -- Cum"brous*ness, n.

Augmenting, gaining, or giving force, by successive additions; as, a cumulative argument, i. e., one whose force increases as the statement proceeds. The argument . . . is in very truth not logical and single, but moral and cumulative. Trench.

of goods; practice of frequenting, as a shop, manufactory, etc., for making purchases or giving orders; business support. Let him have your custom, but not your votes. Addison.

A platform slightly raised above the floor of a hall or large room, giving distinction to the table and seats placed upon it for the chief guests.

Making a beat without recoil; giving indications by a single beat or excursion; -- said of galvanometers and other instruments in which the needle or index moves to the extent of its deflection and stops with little or no further oscillation. Deadbeat escapement. See under Escapement.

To bring to a termination, as a question, controversy, struggle, by giving the victory to one side or party; to render judgment concerning; to determine; to settle. So shall thy judgment be; thyself hast decided it. 1 Kings xx. 40. The quarrel toucheth none but us alone; Betwixt ourselves let us decide it then. Shak.…

The act of deciding; act of settling or terminating, as a controversy, by giving judgment on the matter at issue; determination, as of a question or doubt; settlement; conclusion. The decision of some dispute. Atterbury.

The process of giving a dull or ground surface to glass by acid or by mechanical means. Knight.

Giving delight; gladdening. -- De*light"ing*ly, adv. Jer. Taylor.

The act of giving birth; parturition; the expulsion or extraction of a fetus and its membranes.

The act of despairing or becoming desperate; a giving up of hope. This desperation of success chills all our industry. Hammond.

The act of defining a concept or notion by giving its essential constituents.

The fifth book of the Pentateuch, containing the second giving of the law by Moses.

The act of giving or disposing of real estate by will; -- sometimes improperly applied to a bequest of personal estate.