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rank; honorable station; high office, political or ecclesiastical; degree of excellence; preferment; exaltation. Macaulay. And the king said, What honor and dignity hath been done to Mordecai for this Esth. vi. 3. Reuben, thou art my firstborn, . . . the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power. Gen. xlix. 3.…

ter, or glass, and esp. through different lenses; -- distinguished from catoptrics, which refers to reflected light.

The pointing of a piece with reference to an imaginary vertical axis; -- distinguished from elevation. The direction is given when the plane of sight passes through the object. Wilhelm.

With distinction; with some mark of preference. Pope.

to serve; as, if no better plan can be found, he will make this do. You would do well to prefer a bill against all kings and parliaments since the Conquest; and if that won't do; challenge the crown. Collier. To do by. See under By. -- To do for. (a) To answer for; to serve as; to suit. (b) To put an end to; to ruin;…

n the early part of July and the early part of September; canicular days; -- so called in reference to the rising in ancient times of the Dog Star (Sirius) with the sun. Popularly, the sultry, close part of the summer.

In a domestic manner; privately; with reference to domestic affairs.

To proportion properly (a medicine), with reference to the patient or the disease; to form into suitable doses.

A bundle containing the papers in reference to some matter.

A minute quantity; a mite. Were I the chooser, a dram of well-doing should be preferred before many times as mush the forcible hindrance of evildoing. Milton.

f air moving through an inclosed place, as through a room or up a chimney. Thackeray. He preferred to go and sit upon the stairs, in . . . a strong draught of air, until he was again sent for. Dickens.

to the right, To dress to the left, To dress on the center (Mil.), to form alignment with reference to the soldier on the extreme right, or in the center, of the rank, who serves as a guide.

stry of religion; a clergyman; a priest. From a humble ecclesiastic, he was subsequently preferred to the highest dignities of the church. Prescott.

ng of granular red garnet, light green smaragdite, and common hornblende; -- so called in reference to its beauty.

To slip or glide away; to pass away silently, as time; -- used chiefly in reference to time. Eight days elapsed; at length a pilgrim came. Hoole.

Chosen; taken by preference from among two or more. "Colors quaint elect." Spenser.

viation of an ellipse or a spheroid from the form of a circle or a sphere; especially, in reference to the figure of the earth, the difference between the equatorial and polar semidiameters, divided by the equatorial; thus, the ellipticity of the earth is

either in rank, office, or celebrity; social or moral loftiness; high rank; distinction; preferment. Milton. You 've too a woman's heart, which ever yet Affected eminence, wealth, sovereignty. Shak.

Having to do with inlaid work; -- especially used with reference to work of the ancient Greeks.

nd authoritative act; to make into a law; especially, to perform the legislative act with reference to (a bill) which gives it the validity of law.