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Prevailing popular custom; fashion, especially in the phrase the mode. The easy, apathetic graces of a man of the mode. Macaulay.

by means of which a source of power, as steam, moving water, electricity, etc., is made available for doing mechanical work.

ding excellence; eminence. Though she hated Amphialus, yet the nobility of her courage prevailed over it. Sir P. Sidney. They thought it great their sovereign to control, And named their pride nobility of soul. Dryden.

Not fit or available for duty.

oting; to be recognized or established; to subsist; to become prevalent or general; to prevail; as, the custom obtains of going to the seashore in summer. Sobriety hath by use obtained to signify temperance in drinking. Jer. Taylor. The Theodosian code, several hundred years after Justinian's time, did obtain in the we…

To make known; to discover; also, to render available or accessible for settlements, trade, etc. The English did adventure far for to open the North parts of America. Abp. Abbot.

To put in opposition, with a view to counterbalance or countervail; to set against; to offer antagonistically. I may . . . oppose my single opinion to his. Locke.

se; eloquence. "The oratory of Greece and Rome." Milton. When a world of men Could not prevail with all their oratory. Shak.

Specifically, the throes or travail of childbirth. She bowed herself and travailed, for her pains came upon her. 1 Sam. iv. 19.

An opening, road, or track, available for passing; especially, one through or over some dangerous or otherwise impracticable barrier; a passageway; a defile; a ford; as, a mountain pass. "Try not the pass!" the old man said. Longfellow.

Having no peer or equal; matchless; superlative. "Her peerless feature." Shak. Unvailed her peerless light. Milton. --Peer"less*ly, adv. -- Peer"less*ness, n.

tyle (Arch.), a name given to the latest variety of English Gothic architecture, which prevailed from the close of the 14th century to the early part of the 16th; -- probably so called from the vertical style of its window mullions.

To use persuasion; to plead; to prevail by persuasion. Shak.

Prevailed upon; influenced by argument or entreaty; convinced. -- Per*suad"ed*ly, adv. -- Per*suad"ed*ness, n.

Having nervous energy; forceful; cogent. This pithy speech prevailed, and all agreed. Dryden. In all these Goodman Fact was very short, but pithy. Addison. Pithy gall (Zoöl.), a large, rough, furrowed, oblong gall, formed on blackberry canes by a small gallfly (Diastrophus nebulosus).

ll not take place. (b) To take precedence or priority. Addison. (c) To take effect; to prevail. "If your doctrine takes place." Berkeley. "But none of these excuses would take place." Spenser. -- To take the place of, to be substituted for.

An acute malignant contagious fever, that often prevails in Egypt, Syria, and Turkey, and has at times visited the large cities of Europe with frightful mortality; hence, any pestilence; as, the great London plague. "A plague upon the people fell." Tennyson. Cattle plague. See Rinderpest. -- Plague mark, Plague spot,…

Prevailing among the people; epidemic; as, a popular disease. [Obs.] Johnson. Popular action (Law), an action in which any person may sue for penalty imposed by statute. Blackstone.

To render the latent power of (anything) available. Dunglison.

That may be practiced or performed; capable of being done or accomplished with available means or resources; feasible; as, a practicable method; a practicable aim; a practicable good.