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Hence, generally, to confine; to bind; to tie up. "Pinioned up by formal rules of state." Norris.

Work done by platting or braiding; a plait. Her hair, nor loose, nor tied in formal plat. Shak.

e either dismissed, delayed, or barred. In criminal practice, the plea is the defendant's formal answer to the indictment or information presented against him.

f a person; the position of the body or of any member of the body; especially, a position formally assumed for the sake of effect; an artificial position; as, the pose of an actor; the pose of an artist's model or of a statue.

To proclaim by public discourse; to utter in a sermon or a formal religious harangue. That Cristes gospel truly wolde preche. Chaucer. The Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek. Isa. lxi. 1.

y adhering or conforming to rule; very nice or exact; punctilious in conduct or ceremony; formal; ceremonious. Addison. He was ever precise in promise-keeping. Shak.

An overprecise person; one rigidly or ceremoniously exact in the observance of rules; a formalist; -- formerly applied to the English Puritans. The most dissolute cavaliers stood aghast at the dissoluteness of the emancipated precisian. Macaulay.

A formal approbation by the pope of a person nominated to an ecclesiastical dignity. Addis & Arnold.

bring or introduce into the presence of some one, especially of a superior; to introduce formally; to offer for acquaintance; as, to present an envoy to the king; (with the reciprocal pronoun) to come into the presence of a superior. Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the lord.…

Formal; precise; affectedly neat or nice; as, prim regularity; a prim person. Swift.

The quality or state of being prim; affected formality or niceness; preciseness; stiffness.

To be formal or affected in dress or manners; -- often with up. [Prov. Eng. & Scot.] Halliwell.

To introduce with a formal preface, or prologue. [R.] Shak.

The act of pronouncing; a declaration; a formal announcement.

A proclamation or manifesto; a formal announcement or declaration.

stitution, or commencement, and continuance of a criminal suit; the process of exhibiting formal charges against an offender before a legal tribunal, and pursuing them to final judgment on behalf of the state or government, as by indictment or information.

To affirm in a public or formal manner; to bear witness; to declare solemnly; to avow. He protest that his measures are pacific. Landor. The lady doth protest too much, methinks. Shak.

A convention not formally ratified.

Like a prude; very formal, precise, or reserved; affectedly severe in virtue; as, a prudish woman; prudish manners. A formal lecture, spoke with prudish face. Garrick.

ne who, in the time of Queen Elizabeth and the first two Stuarts, opposed traditional and formal usages, and advocated simpler forms of faith and worship than those established by law; -- originally, a term of reproach. The Puritans formed the bulk of the early population of New England.