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A messenger sent with haste to convey letters or dispatches, usually on public busuness. The wary Bassa . . . by speedy couriers, advertised Solyman of the enemy's purpose. Knolles.

tart from a covert or lair; -- said of game. -- Under cover, in an envelope, or within a letter; -- said of a written message. Letters . . . dispatched under cover to her ladyship. Thackeray.

ened the world by fine phrases. Macualay. Children may be cozened into a knowledge of the letters. Locke. Goring loved no man so well but that he would cozen him, and expose him to public mirth for having been cozened. Clarendon.

That which gives a claim to credit, belief, or confidence; as, a letter of credence.

Giving a title or claim to credit or confidence; accrediting. Their credential letters on both sides. Camden.

f B. Bank credit, or Cash credit. See under Cash. -- Bill of credit. See under Bill. -- Letter of credit, a letter or notification addressed by a banker to his correspondent, informing him that the person named therein is entitled to draw a certain sum of money; when addressed to several different correspondents, or…

one of which is the final end or object of study in every one of its pursuits: Beauty, in letters and the arts; Truth, in history and sciences. Brande & C. By criticism, as it was first instituted by Aristotle, was meant a standard of judging well. Dryden.

n contrary directions. -- Cross stroke, a line or stroke across something, as across the letter t. -- Cross wind, a side wind; an unfavorable wind. -- Cross wires, fine wires made to traverse the field of view in a telescope, and moved by a screw with a graduated head, used for delicate astronomical observations; sp…

The alphabet; -- called also Christcross-row. And from the crossrow plucks the letter G. Shak.

h time the days of the month return to the same days of the week. The dominical or Sunday letter follows the same order; hence the solar cycle is also called the cycle of the Sunday letter. In the Gregorian calendar the solar cycle is in general interrupted at the end of the century.

Relating to capital letters.

The fourth letter of the English alphabet, and a vocal consonent. The English letter is from Latin, which is from Greek, which took it from Phoenician, the probable ultimate origin being Egyptian. It is related most nearly to t and th; as, Eng. deep, G. tief; Eng. daughter, G. tochter, Gr. duhitr. See Guide to Pronunci…

beginning; a direction to return to, and end with, the first strain; -- indicated by the letters D. C. Also, the strain so repeated.

year) when the writing or inscription was given, or executed, or made; as, the date of a letter, of a will, of a deed, of a coin. etc. And bonds without a date, they say, are void. Dryden.

use by a people, and is known only in writings, as the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. -- Dead letter. (a) A letter which, after lying for a certain fixed time uncalled for at the post office to which it was directed, is then sent to the general post office to be opened. (b) That which has lost its force or authority; as, t…

To translate from secret characters or ciphers into intelligible terms; as, to decipher a letter written in secret characters.

An authoritative order or decree; especially, a letter of the pope, determining some point or question in ecclesiastical law. The decretals form the second part of the canon law.

tual degeneracy; disgrace; abasement; debasement. The . . . degradation of a needy man of letters. Macaulay. Deplorable is the degradation of our nature. South. Moments there frequently must be, when a sidegradation of his state. Blair.

thing; distribution; as, the delivery of a fort, of hostages, of a criminal, of goods, of letters.

A tract of land shaped like the letter delta (as, the delta of the Ganges, of the Nile, or of the Mississippi.