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esp. respecting future or unknown; being in painful suspense; -- applied to persons; as, anxious for the issue of a battle.

In an anxious manner; with painful uncertainty; solicitously.

The quality of being anxious; great solicitude; anxiety.

Anxious in an excessive or needless degree. -- O"ver*anx"ious*ly, adv.

Having an acid quality; sour; acidulous. "With anxious, acidulent face." Carlyle.

To pant; to be breathlessly anxious or eager (for). [Obs.] They anhele . . . for the fruit of our convocation. Latimer.

The state of being anxious; anxiety. [R.]

things. It becomes me so to speak of so excellent a poet. Dryden. I have known persons so anxious to have their dress become them, as to convert it, at length, into their proper self, and thus actually to become the dress. Coleridge.

To put into, or clothe with, breeches. A great man . . . anxious to know whether the blacksmith's youngest boy was breeched. Macaulay.

d for holding anything. Saw I that insect on this goblet's brim I would remove it with an anxious pity. Coleridge.

To have the mind dwell continuously or moodily on a subject; to think long and anxiously; to be in a state of gloomy, serious thought; -- usually followed by over or on; as, to brood over misfortunes. Brooding on unprofitable gold. Dryden. Brooding over all these matters, the mother felt like one who has evoked a spiri…

Careful; anxious. [Obs.] Chaucer.

To be anxious or solictous; to be concerned; to have regard or interest; -- sometimes followed by an objective of measure. I would not care a pin, if the other three were in. Shak. Master, carest thou not that we perish Mark. iv. 38. To care for. (a) To have under watchful attention; to take care of.…

Full of care; anxious; solicitous [Archaic] Be careful [Rev. Ver. "anxious"] for nothing. Phil. iv. 6. The careful plowman doubting stands. Milton.

To be careful, anxious, solicitous, or troubles in mind; to worry or grieve. [R.] Beau. & fl.

In a condition of comfort; having comforts; not suffering or anxious; hence, contented; cheerful; as, to lead a comfortable life. My lord leans wondrously to discontent; His comfortable temper has forsook him: He is much out of health. Shak.

ving others; characterized by craft; cunning; wily. "A pair of crafty knaves." Shak. With anxious care and crafty wiles. J. Baillie.

y excess of numbers or quantity. The balconies and verandas were crowded with spectators, anxious to behold their future sovereign. Prescott.

Careful or anxious to learn; eager for knowledge; given to research or inquiry; habitually inquisitive; prying; -- sometimes with after or of. It is a picurious after things that were elegant and beatiful should not have been as curious as to their origin, their uses, and their natural history. Woodward.…

The act of discriminating, distinguishing, or noting and marking differences. To make an anxious discrimination between the miracle absolute and providential. Trench.