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A roving, frolicsome thing; a trifler; -- used rarely as a term of endearment. I am afeard you make a wanton of me. Shak. Peace, my wantons; he will do More than you can aim unto. B. Jonson.

s worthy of notice; to regard. [Obs. or Archaic] "I weigh not you." Shak. All that she so dear did weigh. Spenser. To weigh down. (a) To overbalance. (b) To oppress with weight; to overburden; to depress. "To weigh thy spirits down." Milton.

influence; enchantment. He never felt The witchery of the soft blue sky. Wordsworth. The dear, dear witchery of song. Bryant.

a term of respect, sometimes ironically. "This is worshipful society." Shak. [She is] so dear and worshipful. Chaucer. -- Wor"ship*ful*ly, adv. -- Wor"ship*ful*ness, n.

A garland; a chaplet, esp. one given to a victor. Conquest doth grant He dear wreath to the Grecian combatant. Chapman. Far back in the ages, The plow with wreaths was crowned. Bryant.

rt; to writhe; to wrest; to vex. Sir P. Sidney. Guests by hundreds, not one caring If the dear host's neck were wried. R. Browning.

A young person; a youth; also, any animal in its early life. "More dear . . . than younglings to their dam." Spenser. He will not be so willing, I think, to join with you as with us younglings. Ridley.

Certainly; most likely; truly; probably. [Obs. or Archaic] "Ywis," quod he, "it is full dear, I say." Chaucer. She answered me, "I-wisse, all their sport in the park is but a shadow to that pleasure that I find in Plato." Ascham. A right good knight, and true of word ywis. Spenser.