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avorable or prejudicial quality, condition, circumstance, or the like; that which hinders success, or causes loss or injury. I was brought here under the disadvantage of being unknown by sight to any of you. Burke. Abandoned by their great patron, the faction henceforward acted at disadvantage. Palfrey.…

Attended with disadvantage; unfavorable to success or prosperity; inconvenient; prejudicial; -- opposed to advantageous; as, the situation of an army is disadvantageous for attack or defense. Even in the disadvantageous position in which he had been placed, he gave clear indications of future excellence. Prescott. -- D…

To cut off from an inheritance or from hereditary succession; to prevent, as an heir, from coming into possession of any property or right, which, by law or custom, would devolve on him in the course of descent. Of how fair a portion Adam disinherited his whole posterity! South.

Remoteness in succession or relation; as, the distance between a descendant and his ancestor.

- in place, time, consanguinity, or connection; as, distant times; distant relatives. The success of these distant enterprises. Prescott.

who speaks dogmatically; a bold and arrogant advancer of principles. I expect but little success of all this upon the dogmatist; his opinioned assurance is paramount to argument. Glanvill.

divining rod, as in search of water, ore, etc. Adams had the reputation of having dowsed successfully for more than a hundred wells. Eng. Cyc.

A lose of advantage, or deduction from profit, value, success, etc.; a discouragement or hindrance; objectionable feature. The avaridrawback from the wisdom ascribed to him. Hallam.

To fall in drops or small drops, or in a quick succession of drops; as, water dribbles from the eaves.

es; strictly, a tool that cuts with its end, by revolving, as in drilling metals, or by a succession of blows, as in drilling stone; also, a drill press.

fall or descent. Ague drop, Black drop. See under Ague, Black. -- Drop by drop, in small successive quantities; in repeated portions. "Made to taste drop by drop more than the bitterness of death." Burke. -- Drop curtain. See Drop, n.,

To beat with the fingers, as with drumsticks; to beat with a rapid succession of strokes; to make a noise like that of a beaten drum; as, the ruffed grouse drums with his wings. Drumming with his fingers on the arm of his chair. W. Irving.

e obliquely, so as to make it rebound repeatedly from the surface of the water, raising a succession of jets; hence: To play at ducks and drakes, with property, to throw it away heedlessly or squander it foolishly and unprofitably. -- Lame duck. See under Lame.

A race or succession of kings, of the same line or family; the continued lordship of a race of rulers.

A wave, or two or three successive waves, of great height and violence, at flood tide moving up an estuary or river; -- commonly called the bore. See Bore.

Coming in the first part of a period of time, or among the first of successive acts, events, etc. Seen in life's early morning sky. Keble. The forms of its earlier manhood. Longfellow. The earliest poem he composed was in his seventeenth summer. J. C. Shairp. Early English (Philol.) See the Note under English. -- Earl…

chelon lens (Optics), a large lens constructed in several parts or layers, extending in a succession of annular rings beyond the central lens; - - used in lighthouses.

Brilliancy of success or effort; splendor; brilliant show; striking effect; glory; renown. "The eclat of Homer's battles." Pope.

To perfect with painstaking; to improve or refine with labor and study, or by successive operations; as, to elaborate a painting or a literary work. The sap is . . . still more elaborated and exalted as it circulates through the vessels of the plant. Arbuthnot.

The act or process of producing or refining with labor; improvement by successive operations; refinement.