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n is derived from the person speaking; as, you shall go; he shall go; that is, I order or promise your going. It thus ordinarily expresses, in the second and third persons, a command, a threat, or a promise. If the auxillary be emphasized, the command is made more imperative, the promise or that more positive and sure.…

not earnest or eager; as, slack in duty or service. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness. 2 Pet. iii. 9.

Not affording firm ground for confidence; as, a slippery promise. The slippery tops of human state. Cowley.

express serious reflections; marked by seriousness; serious; grave; devout; as, a solemn promise; solemn earnestness. Nor wanting power to mitigate and swage With solemn touches troubled thoughts. Milton. There reigned a solemn silence over all. Spenser.

gravity of the Spaniards shows itself in the solemnity of their language. Addison. These promises were often made with great solemnity and confirmed with an oath. J. Edwards.

or disintegrated; resolution; disintegration. It is unquestionably an enterprise of more promise to assail the nations in their hour of faintness and solution, than at a time when magnificent and seductive systems of worship were at their height of energy and splendor. I. Taylor.

One who promises or distributes public offices and their emoluments as the price of services to a party or its leaders.

ff's or other house in which debtors are put before being taken to jail, or until they compromise with their creditors. At these houses extortionate charges are commonly made for food, lodging, etc.

s; to become less confident or determined; to hesitate. He [Abraham] staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief. Rom. iv. 20.

is sense." Bp. Stillingfleet. (c) To abide by; to adhere to; as to a contrast, assertion, promise, etc.; as, to stand to an award; to stand to one's word. (d) Not to yield; not to fly; to maintain, as one's ground. "Their lives and fortunes were put in safety, whether they stood to it or ran away." Bacon. (e) To be con…

Acting without concealment, obliquity, or compromise; hence, unqualified; thoroughgoing. [Colloq. U.S.] Straight-out and generous indignation. Mrs. Stowe.

To promise to give, by writing one's name with the amount; as, each man subscribed ten dollars.

Auxiliary troops or reënforcements. "My promised supply of horsemen." Shak.

To make to depend; as, God hath suspended the promise of eternal life on the condition of obedience and holiness of life. [Archaic] Tillotson.

a solemn declaration, with an appeal to God for the truth of what is affirmed; to make a promise, threat, or resolve on oath; also, to affirm solemnly by some sacred object, or one regarded as sacred, as the Bible, the Koran, etc. Ye shall swear by my name falsely. Lev. xix. 12. I swear by all the Roman gods. Shak.…

try upon goods imported or exported; as, a revenue tariff; a protective tariff; Clay's compromise tariff. (U.S. 1833).

to make report to; to acquaint; to teach; to inform. A secret pilgrimage, That you to-day promised to tell me of Shak.

Due mixture of qualities; a condition brought about by mutual compromises or concessions. [Obs.] However, I forejudge not any probable expedient, any temperament that can be found in things of this nature, so disputable on their side. Milton.

Propositions or promises, as in contracts, which, when assented to or accepted by another, settle the contract and bind the parties; conditions.

inst; to menace; to inspire with apprehension; to alarm, or attempt to alarm, as with the promise of something evil or disagreeable; to warn. Let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name. Acts iv. 17.