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nken; lean. Meager and lank with fasting grown. Swift. Who would not choose . . . to have rather a lank purse than an empty brain Barrow.

Somewhat slow or slowly, but not so slowly as largo, and rather more so than andante.

A very fine linen (or sometimes cotton) fabric with a rather open texture. Lawn is used for the sleeves of a bishop's official dress in the English Church, and, figuratively, stands for the office itself. A saint in crape is twice in lawn. Pope.

ncline in opinion or desire; to conform in conduct; -- with to, toward, etc. They delight rather to lean to their old customs. Spenser.

To lose. [Obs.] They would rather leese their friend than their jest. Lord Burleigh.

Having length; rather long or too long; prolix; not brief; -- said chiefly of discourses, writings, and the like. "Lengthy periods." Washington. "Some lengthy additions." Byron. "These would be details too lengthy." Jefferson. "To cut short lengthy explanations." Trench.

curve or surface in which all points are equally distant from the center of the earth, or rather would be so if the earth were an exact sphere.

or existence of the soul; as, man is a creature having an immortal life. She shows a body rather than a life. Shak.

Formed or uttered by the joint use of the tongue and teeth, or rather that part of the gum just above the front teeth; dentolingual, as the letters d and t.

A small lake; a pond. [Scot.] A pond or lochan rather than a lake. H. Miller.

as, a loose style, or way of reasoning. The comparison employed . . . must be considered rather as a loose analogy than as an exact scientific explanation. Whewel.

s.] European lotus, a small tree (Diospyros Lotus) of Southern Europe and Asia; also, its rather large bluish black berry, which is called also the date plum.

Renown; splendor; distinction; glory. His ancestors continued about four hundred years, rather without obscurity than with any great luster. Sir H. Wotton.

A rather large spot or blotch of color.

The fruit of the mango tree. It is rather larger than an apple, and of an ovoid shape. Some varieties are fleshy and luscious, and others tough and tasting of turpentine. The green fruit is pickled for market.

A brownish or dull red of any description, esp. of a scarlet cast rather than approaching crimson or purple.

hts or duties. If he relied upon that title, he could be but a king at courtesy, and have rather a matrimonial than a regal power. Bacon.

times called Turk's cap. (b) The related genus Mamillaria, in which the stem is tubercled rather than ribbed, and the flowers sometimes large. See Illust. under Cactus.

The art of forming melody; melody; -- now often used for a melodic passage, rather than a complete melody.

Thin and rather soft or pliable, as the leaves of the rose, peach tree, and aspen poplar.