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Not having, or not governed by, reins; hence, not checked or restrained.

To drive back; to force to return; to check the advance of; to repulse as, to repel an enemy or an assailant. Hippomedon repelled the hostile tide. Pope. They repelled each other strongly, and yet attracted each other strongly. Macaulay.

To reprove or reprimand with a view of restraining, checking, or preventing; to make charge of fault against; to disapprove of; to chide; to blame; to censure. Chaucer. Aristippus being reprehended of luxury by one that was not rich, for that he gave six crowns for a small fish. Bacon. Pardon me for reprehending thee.…

Hence, to check; to restrain; to keep back. Desire of wine and all delicious drinks, . . . Thou couldst repress. Milton.

That which represses; check; restraint.

in circumstances or character; especially, a change from better to worse; misfortune; a check or defeat; as, the enemy met with a reverse. The strange reverse of fate you see; I pitied you, now you may pity me. Dryden. By a reverse of fortune, Stephen becomes rich. Lamb.

A sudden, violent check of a horse by drawing or twitching the reins on a sudden and with one pull.

Thin canvas glued on the inside of panels to prevent shrinking, checking, etc.

A backset; a check; a repulse; a reverse; a relapse. [Colloq. U.S.]

Separately; distinctly; apart from others; individually. There must be an auditor to check and revise each severally by itself. De Quincey.

Hence, that which checks or prevents free action. His very will seems to be in bonds and shackles. South.

Cracked or checked; split. See Shake, n., 2. Nor is the wood shaken or twisted. Barroe.

herd's needle (Bot.), the lady's comb. -- Shepherd's plaid, a kind of woolen cloth of a checkered black and white pattern. -- Shephered spider (Zoöl.), a daddy longlegs, or harvestman. -- Shepherd's pouch, or Shepherd's purse (Bot.), an annual cruciferous plant (Capsella Bursapastoris) bearing small white flowers an…

of a gable, the offset of a buttress, or the like, cut with a sloping surface and with a check to receive the coping stones and retain them in place.

To check with a skid, as wagon wheels. Dickens.

nd skill: To defeat (an opponent) (as in cards) so that he fails to gain a point, or (in checkers) to get a king. [Colloq.

Flowing or uttered without check, obstruction, or hesitation; not harsh; voluble; even; fluent. The only smooth poet of those times. Milton. Waller was smooth; but Dryden taught to join The varying verse, the full-resounding line. Pope. When sage Minerva rose, From her sweet lips smooth elocution flows. Gay.…

Checkmate given when movement of the king is completely obstructed by his own men.

To check; to reprimand; to rebuke; to chide. [Obs.] Bp. Hall.

To check; to sneap; to sneb. [Obs.] Him would he snib sharply for the nones. Chaucer.