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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



1,297 words match “BEFORE”

AVENGE v.
mountains cold. Milton. He had avenged himself on them by havoc such as England had never before seen. Macaulay.
AVERROIST n.
One of a sect of peripatetic philosophers, who appeared in Italy before the restoration of learning; so denominated from Averroes, or Averrhoes, a celebrated Arabian philosopher. He held the doctrine of monopsychism.
AVOIDANCE n.
f St. Peter's chair, was sitting down therein, when suddenly some one or other clapped in before him. Fuller.
AWAKE a.
Not sleeping or lethargic; roused from sleep; in a state of vigilance or action. Before whom awake I stood. Milton. She still beheld, Now wide awake, the vision of her sleep. Keats. He was awake to the danger. Froude.
AWNING n.
A rooflike cover, usually of canvas, extended over or before any place as a shelter from the sun, rain, or wind.
BACKGAMMON v.
In the game of backgammon, to beat by ending the game before the loser is clear of his first "table".
BACKGROUND n.
ty or retirement, or out of sight. I fancy there was a background of grinding and waiting before Miss Torry could produce this highly finished . . . performance. Mrs. Alexander. A husband somewhere in the background. Thackeray.
BACKING n.
The preparation of the back of a book with glue, etc., before putting on the cover.
BAILMENT n.
bailing a person accused. Bailment . . . is the saving or delivery of a man out of prison before he hath satisfied the law. Dalton.
BAILY'S BEADS n.
A row of bright spots observed in connection with total eclipses of the sun. Just before and after a total eclipse, the slender, unobscured crescent of the sun's disk appears momentarily like a row of bright spots resembling a string of beads. The phenomenon (first fully described by Francis Baily, 1774 -- 1844) is tho…
BAR n.
e forms required. -- Blank bar (Law). See Blank. -- Case at bar (Law), a case presently before the court; a case under argument. -- In bar of, as a sufficient reason against; to prevent. -- Matter in bar, or Defence in bar, a plea which is a final defense in an action. -- Plea in bar, a plea which goes to bar or d…
BARE a.
ute; indigent; empty; unfurnished or scantily furnished; -- used with of (rarely with in) before the thing wanting or taken away; as, a room bare of furniture. "A bare treasury." Dryden.
BEAK n.
That part of a ship, before the forecastle, which is fastened to the stem, and supported by the main knee.
BEAM n. 2 definitions
A cylinder of wood, making part of a loom, on which weavers wind the warp before weaving; also, the cylinder on which the cloth is rolled, as it is woven; one being called the fore beam, the other the back beam.
BEAR v.
is prey. [Obs.] -- To bear away (Naut.), to change the course of a ship, and make her run before the wind. -- To bear back, to retreat. "Bearing back from the blows of their sable antagonist." Sir W. Scott. -- To bear down upon (Naut.), to approach from the windward side; as, the fleet bore down upon the enemy. -- T…
BEAT n.
A transient grace note, struck immediately before the one it is intended to ornament.
BELLY n.
The womb. [Obs.] Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee. Jer. i. 5.
BELONGING n.
Family; relations; household. [Colloq.] Few persons of her ladyship's belongings stopped, before they did her bidding, to ask her reasons. Thackeray.
BENIGHT v.
To overtake with night or darkness, especially before the end of a day's journey or task. Some virgin, sure, . . . benighted in these woods. Milton.
BENTING TIME n.
The season when pigeons are said to feed on bents, before peas are ripe. Bare benting times . . . may come. Dryden.
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