Search the Dictionary

Free from ambiquity or indistinctness; lucid; perspicuous; plain; evident; manifest; indubitable. One truth is clear; whatever is, is right. Pop

The manners of a clown; coarseness or rudeness of behavior. That plainness which the alamode people call clownishness. Locke.

arral. -- Cock and bull story, an extravagant, boastful story; a canard. -- Cock of the plains (Zoöl.) See Sage cock. -- Cock of the rock (Zoöl.), a South American bird (Rupicola aurantia) having a beautiful crest. -- Cock of the walk, a chief or master; the hero of the hour; one who has overcrowed, or got the bett…

obstacle to the return of a bar to its natural state when active magnetism has ceased. It plainly depends on the molecular constitution of the metal. Nichol. The power of resisting magnetization or demagnization is sometimes called coercive force. S. Thompson.

One who ackowledged the right of the plaintiff or cognizee in a fine; the defendant. Blackstone.

An instrument in writting whereby a defendant in an action acknowledges a plaintiff's demand to be just. Mozley & W.

certain judges in England. [Writting also quoif.] From point and saucy ermine down To the plain coif and russet gown. H. Brocke. The judges, . . . althout they are not of the first magnitude, nor need be of the degree of the coif, yet are they considerable. Bacon.

An apparent right; as where the defendant in trespass gave to the plaintiff an appearance of title, by stating his title specially, thus removing the cause from the jury to the court. Blackstone.

to write notes on the works of an author, with a view to illustrate his meaning, or to explain particular passages; to write annotations; -- often followed by on or upon. A physician to comment on your malady. Shak. Critics . . . proceed to comment on him. Dryden. I must translate and comment. Pope.…

ntary or comments; an expositor; an annotator. The commentator's professed object is to explain, to enforce, to illustrate doctrines claimed as true. Whewell.

Complaining; inviting pity; pitiable. [R.] Shak.

is therefore a concession , that he doth . . . believe the Scriptures to be sufficiently plain. Sharp. When a lover becomes satisfied by small compliances without further pursuits, then expect to find popular assemblies content with small concessions. Swift.

The plain semidome of an apse; sometimes used for the entire apse.

hich it should pass, being an acknowledgment that the land in question belonged to the complainant. See Fine. Burril.

ial confession settles the issue to which it applies; an extrajudical confession may be explained or rebutted. Wharton. Confession and avoidance (Law), a mode of pleading in which the party confesses the facts as stated by his adversary, but alleges some new matter by way of avoiding the legal effect claimed for them.…

onsequence. Lucan is the only author of consideration among the Latin poets who was not explained for . . . the Dauphin. Addison.

To be composed or made up; -- followed by of. The land would consist of plains and valleys. T. Burnet.

Open to the view; obvious to the eye; easy to be seen; plainly visible; manifest; attracting the eye. It was a rock Of alabaster, piled up to the clouds, Conspicious far. Milton. Conspicious by her veil and hood, Signing the cross, the abbess stood. Sir W. Scott.

teadiness in attashments, or perseverance in enterprise; stability; fidelity. A fellow of plain unoined constancy. Shak. Constancy and contempt of danger. Prescott.

The method of construing, interpreting, or explaining a declaration or fact; an attributed sense or meaning; understanding; explanation; interpretation; sense. Any person . . . might, by the sort of construction that would be put on this act, become liable to the penalties of treason. Hallam. Strictly, the term [constr…