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jects with the view of discovering the resemblances or differences; relative estimate. As sharp legal practitioners, no class of human beings can bear comparison with them. Macaulay. The miracles of our Lord and those of the Old Testament afford many interesting points of comparison. Trench.

ising or applying compulsion. Religion is . . . inconsistent with all compulsive motives. Sharp.

Endowed with fancy or imagination. [Obs.] He was . . . pleasantly conceited, and sharp of wit. Knolles.

refore 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.

vedly, as to the service of God. One day in the week is . . . consecrated to a holy rest. Sharp.

ate, and careful of his people. Dryden. The wisest and most considerate men in the world. Sharp.

suming, or dissipating; destructive; wasting. It [prayer] is not consumptive or our time. Sharp. A long consumptive war. Addison.

as to throw light upon its meaning. According to all the light that the contexts afford. Sharp.

Inclined to contradict or cavil [Obs.] Sharp. -- Con`tra*dic"tious*ness, n. Norris.

In a contradictory manner. Sharp.

A cheat; a sharper; a deceiver. [Obs.] Minsheu.

In or with the body; bodily; as, to be corporally present. Sharp.

A leguminous climbing plant of the genus Mucuna, having crooked pods covered with sharp hairs, which stick to the fingers, causing intolerable itching. The spiculæ are sometimes used in medicine as a mechanical vermifuge. [Written also couhage, cowage, and cowitch.]

To cause to sound suddenly and sharply; to snap; as, to crack a whip.

of a little powder inclossed in a thick paper cylinder with a fuse, and exploding with a sharp noise; - - often called firecracker.

To make slight cracks; to make small, sharp, sudden noises, rapidly or frequently repeated; to crepitate; as, burning thorns crackle. The unknown ice that crackles underneath them. Dryden.

The making of small, sharp cracks or reports, frequently repeated. As the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool. Eccl. vii. 6.

Iron insruments with sharp points, worn on the shoes to assist in gaining or keeping a foothold.

To make a prolonged sharp grating or ssqueaking sound, as by the friction of hard substances; as, shoes creak. The creaking locusts with my voice conspire. Dryden. Doors upon their hinges creaked. Tennyson.

To make a series of small, sharp, rapidly repeated explosions or sounds, as salt in fire; to crackle; to snap.