Search the Dictionary

en; assiduity in service. That which ordinary men are fit for, I am qualified in; and the best of me is diligence. Shak.

to deprive of the means of attack or defense; to render defenseless. Security disarms the best-appointed army. Fuller. The proud was half disarmed of pride. Tennyson.

o order and control; habit of obedience. The most perfect, who have their passions in the best discipline, are yet obliged to be constantly on their guard. Rogers.

he curtains, and discover The several caskets to this noble prince. Shak. Prosperity doth best discover vice; but adversity doth best discover virtue. Bacon. We will discover ourselves unto them. 1 Sam. xiv. 8. Discover not a secret to another. Prov. xxv. 9.

; as, to disdain to do a mean act. Disdaining . . . that any should bear the armor of the best knight living. Sir P. Sidney.

That which is dispensed, dealt out, or appointed; that which is enjoined or bestowed; especially (Theol.),

To deal out; to assign to a use; to bestow for an object or purpose; to apply; to employ; to dispose of. Importuned him that what he designed to bestow on her funeral, he would rather dispose among the poor. Evelyn.

One who, or that which, disposes; a regulator; a director; a bestower. Absolute lord and disposer of all things. Barrow.

ny did to die. Spenser. We do you to wit [i. e., We make you to know] of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia. 2 Cor. viii. 1.

A void space left in tillage. [Prov. Eng.] Dole beer, beer bestowed as alms. [Obs.] -- Dole bread, bread bestowed as alms. [Obs.] -- Dole meadow, a meadow in which several persons have a common right or share.

To give; to bestow; to present; as, to donate fifty thousand dollars to a college.

The act of giving or bestowing; a grant. After donation there an absolute change and alienation of the property of the thing given. South.

One who gives or bestows; one who confers anything gratuitously; a benefactor.

The act of endowing, or bestowing a marriage portion on a woman.

e day drags through, though storms keep out the sun. Byron. Long, open panegyric drags at best. Gay.

y is drawn by the line in which the pulling force acts, when the latter has the direction best adapted to overcome the obstacles of friction and the weight of the body. -- Black draught. See under Black, a. -- Blast draught, or Forced draught, the draught produced by a blower, as by blowing in air beneath a fire or d…

sum; as, the money was paid in dribblets. When made up in dribblets, as they could, their best securities were at an interest of twelve per cent. Burke.

To bestow or communicate by a suggestion; to let fall in an indirect, cautious, or gentle manner; as, to drop hint, a word of counsel, etc.

One whose office is to best the drum, as in military exercises and marching.

he stimulation of such a state; extreme languor; languishment. [R.] Tenderness becomes me best, a sort of dyingness; you see that picture, Foible, -- a swimmingness in the eyes; yes, I'll look so. Congreve.