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ncture; important as regards consequences; hence, of doubtful issue; attended with risk; dangerous; as, the critical stage of a fever; a critical situation. Our circumstances are indeed critical. Burke. The small moment, the exact point, the critical minute, on which every good work so much depends. South. Critical ang…

to cause, pain, grief, or misery. Cruel wars, wasting the earth. Milton. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath for it was cruel. Gen. xlix. 7.

Anger or vexation; rage [Low] Halliwell.

One who meanly shrinks from danger; an arrant coward; a poltroon. You are all recreants and dashtards, and delight to live in slavery to the nobility. Shak.

To repress or subdue the courage of; to check by fear of danger; to cow; to intimidate; to dishearten. Some presences daunt and discourage us. Glanvill.

Danger of death. "In deaths oft." 2 Cor. xi. 23.

To lead into danger by artifice; to lure into a net or snare; to entrap; to insnare; to allure; to entice; as, to decoy troops into an ambush; to decoy ducks into a net. Did to a lonely cot his steps decoy. Thomson. E'en while fashion's brightest arts decoy, The heart, distrusting, asks if this be joy. Goldsmith.…

duck used to lure wild ducks into a decoy; hence, a person employed to lure others into danger. Beau. & Fl.

To repel danger or harm from; to protect; to secure against; attack; to maintain against force or argument; to uphold; to guard; as, to defend a town; to defend a cause; to defend character; to defend the absent; -- sometimes followed by from or against; as, to defend one's self from, or against, one's enemies. The lor…

The act of defending, or the state of being defended; protection, as from violence or danger. In cases of defense 't is best to weigh The enemy more mighty than he seems. Shak.

ness. Defilements of the flesh. Hopkins. The chaste can not rake into such filth without danger of defilement. Addison.

pends; one who is sustained by another, or who relies on another for support of favor; a hanger-on; a retainer; as, a numerous train of dependents. A host of dependents on the court, suborned to play their part as witnesses. Hallam.

sually preceded by of. God hath deprived her of wisdom. Job xxxix. 17. It was seldom that anger deprived him of power over himself. Macaulay.

; causing despair; extremely perilous; irretrievable; past cure, or, at least, extremely dangerous; as, a desperate disease; desperate fortune.

In a desperate manner; without regard to danger or safety; recklessly; extremely; as, the troops fought desperately. She fell desperately in love with him. Addison.

Malice; malignity; spite; malicious anger; contemptuous hate. With all thy despite against the land of Israel. Ezek. xxv. 6.

Causing detriment; injurious; hurtful. Neither dangerous nor detrimental to the donor. Addison.

To quiet or abate, as anger or grief.

A very dangerous contagious disease in which the air passages, and especially the throat, become coated with a false membrane, produced by the solidification of an inflammatory exudation. Cf. Group.

ng; he need not be discouraged from a like attempt. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. Col. iii. 21.