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To limit, restrain, or confine in any way. Try to imprison the resistless wind. Dryden.

The act of imprisoning, or the state of being imprisoned; confinement; restraint. His sinews waxen weak and raw Through long imprisonment and hard constraint. Spenser. Every confinement of the person is an imprisonment, whether it be in a common prison, or in a private house, or even by foreibly detaining one in the pu…

Incapacity to hold; hence, incapacity to hold back or restrain; the quality or state of being incontinent; want of continence; failure to restrain the passions or appetites; indulgence of lust; lewdness. That Satan tempt you not for your incontinency. 1 Cor. vii. 5. From the rash hand of bold incontinence. Milton.…

Not continent; uncontrolled; not restraining the passions or appetites, particularly the sexual appetite; indulging unlawful lust; unchaste; lewd.

In an incontinent manner; without restraint, or without due restraint; -- used esp. of the passions or appetites.

Want of correction, restraint, or discipline. [Obs.] Arnway.

To be complacent toward; to give way to; not to oppose or restrain; (a) when said of a habit, desire, etc.: to give free course to; to give one's self up to; as, to indulge sloth, pride, selfishness, or inclinations; (b) when said of a person: to yield to the desire of; to gratify by compliance; to humor; to withhold r…

The act of indulging or humoring; the quality of being indulgent; forbearance of restrain or control. If I were a judge, that word indulgence should never issue from my lips. Tooke. They err, that through indulgence to others, or fondness to any sin in themselves, substitute for repentance anything less. Hammond.…

to the wishes, humor, or appetites of those under one's care; compliant; not opposing or restraining; tolerant; mild; favorable; not severe; as, an indulgent parent. Shak. The indulgent censure of posterity. Waller. The feeble old, indulgent of their ease. Dryden.

fficient; impotent. Boyle. The authority of Parliament must become inefficacious . . . to restrain the growth of disorders. Burke.

To check; to hold back; to restrain; to hinder. Their motions also are excited or inhibited . . . by the objects without them. Bentley.

The act of inhibiting, or the state of being inhibited; restraint; prohibition; embargo.

A term applied to certain nerve centers which govern or restrain subsidiary centers, from which motor impressions issue. McKendrick.

In an intemperate manner; immoderately; excessively; without restraint. The people . . . who behaved very unwisely and intemperately on that occasion. Burke.

A prohibition of the pope, by which the clergy or laymen are restrained from performing, or from attending, divine service, or from administering the offices or enjoying the privileges of the church.

ompaniments of interjectional speech, such as gestures, grimaces, and gesticulations, are restrained by civilization. Earle.

Not capable of being repressed, restrained, or controlled; as, irrepressible joy; an irrepressible conflict. W. H. Steward.

A noisy or unrestrained carousal or frolic; a spree. [Slang] Kipling.

To hold; to restrain from departure or removal; not to let go of; to retain in one's power or possession; not to lose; to retain; to detain. If we lose the field, We can not keep the town. Shak. That I may know what keeps me here with you. Dryden. If we would weigh and keep in our minds what we are considering, that wo…

A holding; restraint; custody; guard; charge; care; preservation. His happiness is in his own keeping. South.