Search the Dictionary

A figurative or symbolical reference. [Obs.]

A diminutive person; so called in allusion to the small figures cut in agate for rings and seals. [Obs.] Shak.

Having reference to something not fully expressed; containing an allusion.

Figuratively [Obs.]; by way of allusion; by implication, suggestion, or insinuation.

One who imitates servilely (in allusion to the manners of the ape); a mimic. Byron.

A paragraph describing something wonderful, used to fill out a newspaper column; -- an allusion to the miracle of Balaam's ass speaking. Numb. xxii. 30. [Cant] Balaam basket or box (Print.), the receptacle for rejected articles. Blackw. Mag.

rnational, interdenominational organization of Bible classes of young men; -- so named in allusion to the Hebrew word Berachah (Meaning blessing) occurring in 2 Chron. xx. 26 and 1 Chron. xii.

A dungeon or dark cell in a prison; a military lock-up or guardroom; -- now commonly with allusion to the cell (the Black Hole) in a fort at Calcutta, into which 146 English prisoners were thrust by the nabob Suraja Dowla on the night of June 20, 17656, and in which 123 of the prisoners died before morning from lack of…

ontaining copper, iron, and sulphur; -- also called purple copper ore (or erubescite), in allusion to the colors shown upon the slightly tarnished surface.

To act as a boy; -- in allusion to the former practice of boys acting women's parts on the stage. I shall see Some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness. Shak.

The male wild turkey, the gobbler; -- so called in allusion to its notes.

ury the hatchet, to lay aside the instruments of war, and make peace; -- a phrase used in allusion to the custom observed by the North American Indians, of burying a tomahawk when they conclude a peace.

A name given to several different fishes, in allusion to their slippery coating of mucus, as the Stromateus triacanthus of the Atlantic coast, the Epinephelus punctatus of the southern coast, the rock eel, and the kelpfish of New Zealand.

A boy servant, or page, -- in allusion to the buttons on his livry. [Colloq.] Dickens.

to choke, as a person affected with strong emotion. "A deep and choky voice." Aytoun. The allusion to his mother made Tom feel rather chokey. T. Hughes.

dcock. [Obs.] Nares. Cockshut time or light, evening twilight; nightfall; -- so called in allusion to the tome at which the cockshut used to be spread. [Obs.] Shak. B. Jonson.

noise made by block tin when it is bent back and forth. A far cry, a long distance; -- in allusion to the sending of criers or messengers through the territory of a Scottish clan with an announcement or summons.

Cyanite or kyanite; -- so called in allusion to its unequal hardness in two different directions. See Cyanite.

spirits. [Collog.] -- To cut a feather. (a) (Naut.) To make the water foam in moving; in allusion to the ripple which a ship throws off from her bows. (b) To make one's self conspicuous.[Colloq.] -- To show the white feather, to betray cowardice, -- a white feather in the tail of a cock being considered an indication…

(Zoöl.), a small fly said to be injurious to figs. -- Fig leaf, the leaf tree; hence, in allusion to the first clothing of Adam and Eve (Genesis iii.7), a covering for a thing that ought to be concealed; esp., an inadequate covering; a symbol for affected modesty. -- Fig marigold (Bot.), the name of several plants of…