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. Every coffeehouse had one or more orators, to whose eloquence the crowd listened with admiration, and who soon became what the journalists of our own time have been called -- a fourth estate of the realm. Macaulay.

ther's hands; deceit; fraud; cunning. The foxe, maister of collusion. Spenser. That they [miracles] be done publicly, in the face of the world, that there may be no room to suspect artifice and collusion. Atterbury. By the ignorance of the merchants or dishonesty of the weavers, or the collusion of both, the ware was b…

ls, the manners of society, or the ludicrous events or accidents of life; a play in which mirth predominates and the termination of the plot is happy; -- opposed to tragedy. With all the vivacity if comedy. Macaulay. Are come to play a pleasant comedy. Shak.

Causing mirth; ludicrous. "Comic shows." Shak.

Exciting mirth; droll; laughable; as, a comical story. "Comical adventures." Dryden.

The power of exciting mirth; comicalness. [R.] H. Giles.

some department or bureau of the public service. Herbert was first commissioner of the Admiralty. Macaulay. The commissioner of patents, the commissioner of the land office, the commissioner of Indian affairs, are subotdinates of the secretary of the interior. Bartlett. Commissioner of deeds, an officer having authori…

n commanding a squadron, or a division of a fleet, or having the temporary rank of rear admiral.

the doctors of civil law used to common together, and where were the ecclesiastical and admiralty courts and offices having jurisdiction of marriage licenses, divorces, registration of wills, etc. -- To be on short commons, to have small allowance of food. [Colloq.]

egal 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.

An expression, by word or act, of approbation, regard, confidence, civility, or admiration; a flattering speech or attention; a ceremonious greeting; as, to send one's compliments to a friend. Tedious waste of time, to sit and hear So many hollow compliments and lies. Milton. Many a compliment politely penned. Cowper.…

f composing, or that which is composed; a composition. [Obs.] Signor Pietro, who had an admirable way both of composure [in music] and teaching. Evelyn.

curve of the of the inner surface of an eggshell, in opposition to convex; as, a concave mirror; the concave arch of the sky.

alth, strength, etc.; predicament; rank; position, estate. I am in my condition A prince, Miranda; I do think, a king. Shak. And O, what man's condition can be worse Than his whom plenty starves and blessings curse Cowley. The new conditions of life. Darwin.

ds drawn parallel to the other. -- Conjugate focus (Opt.) See under Focus. -- Conjugate mirrors (Optics), two mirrors so placed that rays from the focus of one are received at the focus of the other, especially two concave mirrors so placed that rays proceeding from the principal focus of one and reflected in a paral…

egard with deliberate care; to meditate on; to study. To love, at least contemplate and admire, What I see excellent. Milton. We thus dilate Our spirits to the size of that they contemplate. Byron.

ingenuity; to devise; to invent; to design; to plan. What more likely to contrive this admirable frame of the universe than infinite wisdom. Tillotson. neither do thou imagine that I shall contrive aught against his life. Hawthorne.

Contrivance; invention; arrangement; design; plan. [Obs.] Consider the admirable contrivement and artifice of this great fabric. Glanvill. Active to meet their contrivements. Sir G. Buck.

or interchanged; reciprocal; interchangeable. So long as we are in the regions of nature, miraculous and improbable, miraculous and incredible, may be allowed to remain convertible terms. Trench.

To confute; to prove the fallacy of. [Obs.] God never wrought miracle to convince atheism, because his ordinary works convince it. Bacon.