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A following with a view to reach, accomplish, or obtain; endeavor to attain to or gain; as, the pursuit of knowledge; the pursuit of happiness or pleasure.

y which it is applied to a cannon or mortar in adjusting it to the elevation required for attaining the desired range. -- Gunter's quadrant. See Gunter's quadrant, in the Vocabulary. Hadley's quadrant, a hand instrument used chiefly at sea to measure the altitude of the sun or other celestial body in ascertaining the…

To attain or obtain by stretching forth the hand; too extend some part of the body, or something held by one, so as to touch, strike, grasp, or the like; as, to reach an object with the hand, or with a spear. O patron power, . . . thy present aid afford, Than I may reach the beast. Dryden.

rom falsehood, and right from wrong, and by which we are enabled to combine means for the attainment of particular ends. Stewart. Reason is used sometimes to express the whole of those powers which elevate man above the brutes, and constitute his rational nature, more especially, perhaps, his intellectual powers; somet…

To arrive at; to reach; to attain. [Obs.] Lydgate.

et, etc., pursed with a view to improving or preserving the health, or for the purpose of attaining some particular effect, as a reduction of flesh; -- sometimes used synonymously with hygiene.

To slide or turn back into a former state or practice; to fall back from some condition attained; -- generally in a bad sense, as from a state of convalescence or amended condition; as, to relaps into a stupor, into vice, or into barbarism; -- sometimes in a good sense; as, to relapse into slumber after being disturbed…

sic, and Cretaceous periods, and distinguished as that era in which the class of reptiles attained its highest expansion; -- called also the Secondary or Mezozoic age.

es the light he gave. Denham. Perhaps God will resume the blessing he has bestowed ere he attains the age of manhood. Sir W. Scott.

a judgment, which amounts to an official declaration that it is false; the reversal of an attainder, or of an outlawry, by which the sentence is rendered void. Blackstone.

evil done or received; esp., that which is offered or given in return for some service or attainment, as for excellence in studies, for the return of something lost, etc.; recompense; requital. Thou returnest From flight, seditious angel, to receive Thy merited reward. Milton. Rewards and punishments do always presuppo…

Ready for reaping or gathering; having attained perfection; mature; -- said of fruits, seeds, etc.; as, ripe grain. So mayst thou live, till, like ripe fruit, thou drop Into thy mother's lap. Milton.

To grow upward; to attain a certain heght; as, this elm rises to the height of seventy feet.

Attaining a higher place; taking, or moving in, an upward direction; appearing above the horizon; ascending; as, the rising moon.

To grow round or full; hence, to attain to fullness, completeness, or perfection. The queen your mother rounds apace. Shak. So rounds he to a separate mind, From whence clear memory may begin. Tennyson.

erson; one versed in many branches, of knowledge; a person of high literary or scientific attainments; a savant. Shak. Locke.

The character and qualities of a scholar; attainments in science or literature; erudition; learning. A man of my master's . . . great scholarship. Pope.

scut." Skelton. How the Indian hare came to have a long tail, wheras that part in others attains no higher than a scut. Sir T. Browne. My doe with the black scut. Shak.

l (Macrorhinus proboscideus) of the Antarctic seas, much hunted for its oil. It sometimes attains a length of thirty feet, and is remarkable for the prolongation of the nose of the adult male into an erectile elastic proboscis, about a foot in length. Another species of smaller size (M. angustirostris) occurs on the co…

Having an overweening opinion of one's own powers, attainments; vain; conceited. -- Self`-con*ceit"ed*ness, n.