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n, already formed; preconceived opinion; previous impression; bias; -- generally, but not always, used in a favorable sense; as, the prepossessions of childhood. "The prejudices and prepossessions of the country." Sir W. Scott.

To hold before one; to extend. [Obs.] "His target always over her pretended." Spenser.

shall not prevent them which are asleep. 1 Thess. iv. 15. We pray thee that thy grace may always prevent and follow us. Bk. of Common Prayer. Then had I come, preventing Sheba's queen. Prior.

That which is first in quantity; the most excellent portion; the best part. Give him always of the prime. Swift.

rince is inferior to a duke as a member of a particular order of nobility; in Spain he is always one of the royal family.

Blood-red; bloody. May such purple tears be alway shed. Shak. I view a field of blood, And Tiber rolling with a purple blood. Dryden. Purple bird (Zoöl.), the European purple gallinule. See under Gallinule. -- Purple copper ore. (Min.) See Bornite. -- Purple grackle (Zoöl.), the crow blackbird. See under Crow. -- Pu…

, the seventeenth letter of the English alphabet, has but one sound (that of k), and is always followed by u, the two letters together being sounded like kw, except in some words in which the u is silent. See Guide to Pronunciation, § 249. Q is not found in Anglo-Saxon, cw being used instead of qu; as in cwic, quick; c…

Said; spoke; uttered; -- used only in the first and third persons in the past tenses, and always followed by its nominative, the word or words said being the object; as, quoth I. quoth he. "Let me not live, quoth he." Shak.

stics of his [Cobbett's] style were perspicuity, unequaled and inimitable; . . . a purity always simple, and raciness often elegant. London Times.

, stonework consisting of stones of unequal sizes fitted together, but not in courses nor always with flat beds.

orce from another body exerts upon the latter body in the opposite direction. Reaction is always equal and opposite to action, that is to say, the actions of two bodies upon each other are always equal and in opposite directions. Sir I. Newton (3d Law of Motion).

The state of being recommended; esteem. [R.] The burying of the dead . . . hath always been had in an extraordinary recommendation amongst the ancient. Sir T. North.

d from the extensive praise of great achievements or accomplishments; fame; celebrity; -- always in a good sense. Nor envy we Thy great renown, nor grudge thy victory. Dryden.

To come to life again; to revive. These projects, however often slain, always resuscitate. J. S. Mill.

light, seditious angel, to receive Thy merited reward. Milton. Rewards and punishments do always presuppose something willingly done well or ill. Hooker.

m error of falsehood; adherence to truth or fact. Seldom your opinions err; Your eyes are always in the right. Prior.

Attended with risk or danger; hazardous. "A risky matter." W. Collins. Generalization are always risky. Lowell.

, forked at the summit. This, the smallest European deer, is very nimble and graceful. It always prefers a mountainous country, or high grounds.

backward from three fixed points, the calends, the nones, and the ides. The calends were always the first day of the month. The ides fell on the 15th in March, May, July (Quintilis), and October, and on the 13th in other months. The nones came on the eighth day (the ninth, counting the ides) before the ides. Thus, Jan…

A rare metallic element. It occurs quite widely, but in small quantities, and always combined. It is isolated as a soft yellowish white metal, analogous to potassium in most of its properties. Symbol Rb. Atomic weight, 85.2.