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have very large flowers of a great diversity of colors. Called also heart's-ease, love-in-idleness, and many other quaint names.

That which produces; cause; source; author; begetter; as, idleness is the parent of vice. Regular industry is the parent of sobriety. Channing. Parent cell. (Biol.) See Mother cell, under Mother, also Cytula. -- Parent nucleus (Biol.), a nucleus which, in cell division, divides, and gives rise to two or more daughter…

an actor of dramas. Prynne. -- Play debt, a gambling debt. Arbuthnot. -- Play pleasure, idle amusement. [Obs.] Bacon. -- A play upon words, the use of a word in such a way as to be capable of double meaning; punning. -- Play of colors, prismatic variation of colors. -- To bring into play, To come into play, to bri…

One who plays, or amuses himself; one without serious aims; an idler; a trifler. Shak.

To wade or move about with splashing; to dabble; also, to potter; trifle; idle. [Scot. & Dial. Eng.]

of the cylinder of a steam engine; an opening in a valve seat, or valve face. Air port, Bridle port, etc. See under Air, Bridle, etc. -- Port bar (Naut.), a bar to secure the ports of a ship in a gale. -- Port lid (Naut.), a lid or hanging for closing the portholes of a vessel. -- Steam port, and Exhaust port (Steam…

With idle talk; with loquacity.

e law that obliges parishes to support the poor offers a premium for the encouragement of idleness. Franklin.

An idle scheme; an impracticable design; as, a man given to projects.

parts of a building, or of the body. The image of Christ, made after his own proportion. Ridley. Formed in the best proportions of her sex. Sir W. Scott. Documents are authentic and facts are true precisely in proportion to the support which they afford to his theory. Macaulay.

One who asks questions; an inquirer. "Little time for idle questioners." Tennyson.

ow everything that passes; one who knows, or pretends to know, all that is going on. "The idle stories of quidnuncs." Motley.

An idle, ragged person. Nares. Grose.

To move by leaps, or by leaps; hence, to move swiftly or with violence. Their bridles they would champ, And trampling the fine element would fiercely ramp. Spenser.

e random truths he can impart. Wordsworth. So sharp a spur to the lazy, and so strong a bridle to the random. H. Spencer. Random courses (Masonry), courses of unequal thickness. -- Random shot, a shot not directed or aimed toward any particular object, or a shot with the muzzle of the gun much elevated. -- Random wor…

e recumbent posture of the Romans at their meals. Hence, figuratively; Resting; inactive; idle. -- Re*cum"bent*ly, adv.

confinement, instruction, and reformation of juvenile offenders, and of young persons of idle, vicious, and vagrant habits. [U. S.]

The strap of a bridle, fastened to the curb or snaffle on each side, by which the rider or driver governs the horse. This knight laid hold upon his reyne. Chaucer.

cause to face in a contrary direction; to cause to depart. And that old dame said many an idle verse, Out of her daughter's heart fond fancies to reverse. Spenser.

rning. -- Re*vert"ive*ly, adv. The tide revertive, unattracted, leaves A yellow waste of idle sands behind. Thomson.