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An assemblage; a collection; harmonious union. [Obs.] That person of his [George Herbert], which afforded so unusual a contesseration of elegancies. Oley.

a suit; to dispute or resist; as a claim, by course of law; to controvert. To contest an election. (Polit.) (a) To strive to be elected. (b) To dispute the declared result of an election.

Abstracted; removed from close representation of nature by the deliberate selection of what is to be represented and what is to be rejected; as, a conventional flower; a conventional shell. Cf. Conventionalize, v. t.

The act of choosing; selection; choice. [Obs.] The first election and coöptation of a friend. Howell.

e by one, or by groups, for the purpose of ascertaining the whole number of units in a collection; to number; to enumerate; to compute; to reckon. Who can count the dust of Jacob Num. xxiii. 10. In a journey of forty miles, Avaux counted only three miserable cabins. Macaulay.

Superficial appearance; show; pretense. [Obs.] The election being done, he made countenance of great discontent thereat. Ascham. In countenance, in an assured condition or aspect; free from shame or dismay. "It puts the learned in countenance, and gives them a place among the fashionable part of mankind." Addison. --…

A body or collection of cousins; the whole number of persons who stand in the relation of cousins to a given person or persons.

He who was, a little before, bedrid, . . . was now crank and lusty. Udall. If you strong electioners did not think you were among the elect, you would not be so crank about it. Mrs. Stowe.

st part of a thing; the quintessence; as. the cream of a jest or story; the cream of a collection of books or pictures. Welcome, O flower and cream of knights errant. Shelton. Bavarian cream, a preparation of gelatin, cream, sugar, and eggs, whipped; -- to be eaten cold. -- Cold cream, an ointment made of white wax, a…

Inclined to make nice distinctions, or to exercise careful judgment and selection; exact; nicely judicious. Virgil was so critical in the rites of religion. that he would never have brought in such prayers as these, if they had not been agreeable to the Roman customs. Bp. Stillingfleet.

nometers and other instruments in which the needle or index moves to the extent of its deflection and stops with little or no further oscillation. Deadbeat escapement. See under Escapement.

A celebrated collection of tales, supposed to be related in ten days; -- written in the 14th century, by Boccaccio, an Italian.

A selection of every tenth person by lot, as for punishment. Shak.

Inflection of nouns, adjectives, etc., according to the grammatical cases.

Capable of being declined; admitting of declension or inflection; as, declinable parts of speech.

The collection of ecclesiastical decrees and decisions made, by order of Gregory IX., in 1234, by St. Raymond of Pennafort.

Causing deflection. Deflective forces, forces that cause a body to deviate from its course.

See Deflection.

A bending or turning aside; deflection. Bailey.

That which is chosen as the flower or choicest part; careful culling or selection. [R.] The laws of Normandy are, in a great measure, the defloration of the English laws. Sir M. Hale.