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most reliable pledge, of a higher object. Coleridge. According to General Livingston's humorous account, his own village of Elizabethtown was not much more reliable, being peopled in those agitated times by "unknown, unrecommended strangers, guilty-looking Tories, and very knavish Whigs." W. Irving.…

ookbinding, etc., made from sheepskin, tanned with sumac and colored to imitate ungrained morocco. DeColange. Roan tree. (Bot.) See Rowan tree.

Robust. [Obs. or Humorous] W. Irving. In Scotland they had handled the bishops in a more robustious manner. Milton. -- Ro*bus"tious*ly, adv. -- Ro*bus"tious*ness, n.

The sound of a drum when continuously beaten; hence, a clamorous, repeated sound; a clatter. The rubadub of the abolition presses. D. Webster.

Surly; morose; crusty; sullen. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.] "Rusty words." Piers Plowman.

A colloquial or humorous appelation for a negro; sometimes, the offspring of a black person and a mulatto; a zambo.

A playful, humorous movement, commonly in 3-4 measure, which often takes the place of the old minuet and trio in a sonata or a symphony.

One who scolds, or makes a practice of scolding; esp., a rude, clamorous woman; a shrew. She is an irksome, brawling scold. Shak.

To walk fast; to go quickly; to run hastily away. [Colloq. & Humorous, U.S.]

ething thin, lean, or rough; a bony piece; especially, a bony neckpiece of meat; hence, humorously or in contempt, the neck. Lady MacScrew, who . . . serves up a scrag of mutton on silver. Thackeray.

To sculpture; to carve; to engrave. [Obs. or Humorous.] Sandys.

Measuring or containing a foot and a half; as, a sesquipedalian pygmy; -- sometimes humorously applied to long words.

Like a sheep; bashful; over-modest; meanly or foolishly diffident; timorous to excess. Wanting change of company, he will, when he comes abroad, be a sheepish or conceited creature. Locke. -- Sheep"ish*ly, adv. -- Sheep"ish*ness, n.

To act as a sinner. [Humorous] Whether the charmer sinner it or saint it. Pope.

Easily frightened; timorous; shy; untrustworthy; as, a skittish colt. "A restiff, skittish jade." L'Estrange.

One who uses abusive slang; a ranting partisan. [Colloq. or Humorous] W. Irving.

A loud kiss; a buss. "A clamorous smack." Shak.

Not loudly; faintly; timidly. [Obs. or Humorous] You may speak as small as you will. Shak.

To look amorously or wantonly; to smirk.

Amorous glance or inclination. [Obs.] "A smickering to our young lady." Dryden.