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egant meal. (b) That which engages the attention agreeably, amuses or diverts, whether in private, as by conversation, etc., or in public, by performances of some kind; amusement. Theatrical entertainments conducted with greater elegance and refinement. Prescott.

rness in determination of conflicting claims; impartiality. Christianity secures both the private interests of men and the public peace, enforcing all justice and equity. Tillotson.

initiated alone; not communicated, or not intelligible, to the general body of followers; private; interior; acroamatic; -- said of the private and more recondite instructions and doctrines of philosophers. Opposed to exoteric. Enough if every age produce two or three critics of this esoteric class, with here and there…

nce; maintenance; allowance, esp. for meat and drink; pension. Specifically: (Eng. Univ.) Private benefaction for the maintenance of scholars. What maintenance he from his friends receives, Like exhibition thou shalt have from me. Shak. I have given more exhibitions to scholars, in my days, than to the priests. Tyndale…

tuff. [Obs.] The first principles of religion should not be farced with school points and private tenets. Bp. Sanderson. His tippet was aye farsed full of knives. Chaucer.

d file. (a) The body of soldiers constituing the mass of an army, including corporals and privates. Wilhelm. (b) Those who constitute the bulk or working members of a party, society, etc., in distinction from the leaders.

. To fit out, to supply with necessaries or means; to furnish; to equip; as, to fit out a privateer. -- To fit up, to firnish with things suitable; to make proper for the reception or use of any person; to prepare; as, to fit up a room for a guest.

The organs of generation; the sexual organs; the private parts.

a jury of not less than twelve men, and not more than twenty-three, whose duty it is, in private session, to examine into accusations against persons charged with crime, and if they see just cause, then to find bills of indictment against them, to be presented to the court; -- called also grand inquest. -- Grand jury…

A member, either officer or private, of any military body called Guards.

vants, also for cooking and eating. It was often contrasted with the bower, which was the private or sleeping apartment. Full sooty was her bower and eke her hall. Chaucer. Hence, as the entrance from outside was directly into the hall:

Matt. vi. 7. Hear him. See Remark, under Hear, v. i. -- To hear a bird sing, to receive private communication. [Colloq.] Shak. -- To hear say, to hear one say; to learn by common report; to receive by rumor. [Colloq.]

nion he pleased, each several opinion was called a heresy; which signified no more than a private opinion, without reference to truth or falsehood. Hobbes.

g; to haggle. A person accustomed to higgle about taps. Jeffry. To truck and higgle for a private good. Emerson.

To accept, as an opinion; to be the adherent of, openly or privately; to persist in, as a purpose; to maintain; to sustain. Stand fast and hold the traditions which ye have been taught. 2 Thes. ii.15. But still he held his purpose to depart. Dryden.

Felt in one's own breast; inward; private. "Home-felt quiet. Pope.

Made at home; of domestic manufacture; made either in a private family or in one's own country. Locke.

A serious or tedious exhortation in private on some moral point, or on the conduct of life. As I have heard my father Deal out in his long homilies. Byron. Book of Homilies. A collection of authorized, printed sermons, to be read by ministers in churches, esp. one issued in the time of Edward VI., and a second, issued…

A building in which the sick, injured, or infirm are received and treated; a public or private institution founded for reception and cure, or for the refuge, of persons diseased in body or mind, or disabled, infirm, or dependent, and in which they are treated either at their own expense, or more often by charity in who…

State of being hostile; public or private enemy; unfriendliness; animosity. Hostility being thus suspended with France. Hayward.