Search the Dictionary

The state of being inferior; a lower state or condition; as, inferiority of rank, of talents, of age, of worth. A deep sense of our own great inferiority. Boyle.

Natural gift or talent; ability; wit; ingenuity. [Obs.] [Written also ingenie.] Becon.

Informing; giving information; talebearing. [Obs.] Shak. That sad intelligencing tyrant. Milton.

A tale of sorrow, disappointment, or complaint; a doleful story; a dolorous tirade; -- generally used satirically. He has prolonged his complaint into an endless jeremiad. Lamb.

A jest book; a stale jest; a worn-out joke. [Colloq.] It is an old Joe Miller in whist circles, that there are only two reasons that can justify you in not returning trumps to your partner's lead; i. e., first, sudden illness; secondly, having none. Pole.

ghts of men in a state or community, necessary for the due administration of justice. The talents of Abelard were not confined to theology, jurisprudence, philosophy. J. Warton. Medical jurisprudence, that branch of juridical law which concerns questions of medicine.

evalier. -- Knight of Malta, Knight of Rhodes, Knight of St. John of Jerusalem. See Hospitaler. -- Knight of the post, one who gained his living by giving false evidence on trials, or false bail; hence, a sharper in general. Nares. "A knight of the post, . . . quoth he, for so I am termed; a fellow that will swear yo…

A telltale; a prater; a blabber. [Obs.] "I am no lab." Chaucer.

A book of legends; a tale or parrative. Read the Countess of Pembroke's "Arcadia," a gallant legendary full of pleasurable accidents. James I.

Mother; -- word of tenderness and familiarity. [Written also mama.] Tell tales papa and mamma. Swift.

and their supporters; -- also, the persons occupying them. "Very solid and very brilliant talents distinguish the ministerial benches." Burke.

To employ amiss; as, to misemploy time, advantages, talents, etc. Their frugal father's gains they misemploy. Dryden.

To use for a bad purpose; to abuse; to misuse; as, to misimprove time, talents, advantages, etc. South.

To treat or use improperly; to use to a bad purpose; to misapply; as, to misuse one's talents. South. The sweet poison of misused wine. Milton.

Serving to teach or convey a moral; as, a moral lesson; moral tales. Moral agent, a being who is capable of acting with reference to right and wrong. -- Moral certainty, a very high degree or probability, although not demonstrable as a certainty; a probability of so high a degree that it can be confidently acted upon…

A talebearer. [Obs.]

A beggar; a begging impostor. Deceived by the tales of a Lincoln's Inn mumper. Macaulay.

To utter or give forth in low or indistinct words or sounds; as, to murmur tales. Shak. The people murmured such things concerning him. John vii. 32.

Spoiled by age; rank; stale. The proverb is somewhat musty. Shak.

Making or producing myths or mythical tales.