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The act of assisting; help; aid; furtherance; succor; support. Without the assistance of a mortal hand. Shak.

, etc. (to any one, an audience). The young hero had addressed his players to him for his assistance. Dryden.

Skillful arrangement in aid; assistance. It was, no doubt, disposed with all the adjutancy of definition and division. Burke.

Help; succor; assistance; relief. An unconstitutional mode of obtaining aid. Hallam.

A suffix signifying action; also, quality or state; as, assistance, resistance, appearance, elegance. See -ancy.

by aiding and abetting a criminal in the perpetration of a crime, whether by advice or by assistance in the execution; complicity.

k after the first, inserted at the right hand bottom corner of the preceding page for the assistance of the reader. It is seldom used in modern printing.

The state or office of a coadjutor; joint assistance. Pope.

Assistance; relief; support. [Obs. except in the phrase "aid and comfort." See 5 below.] Shak.

To give a part to a common stock; to lend assistance or aid, or give something, to a common purpose; to have a share in any act or effect. We are engaged in war; the secretary of state calls upon the colonies to contribute. Burke.

Contributing to the same stock or purpose; promoting the same end; bringing assistance to some joint design, or increase to some common stock; contributive. Milton. Bonfires of contributory wood. Chapman. Contributory negligence (Law), negligence by an injured party, which combines with the negligence of the injurer in…

. -- Dead level, a term applied to a flat country. -- Dead lift, a direct lift, without assistance from mechanical advantage, as from levers, pulleys, etc.; hence, an extreme emergency. "(As we say) at a dead lift." Robynson (More's Utopia). -- Dead line (Mil.), a line drawn within or around a military prison, to cr…

dispute assertions or arguments. To seize goods under the disputed authority of writs of assistance. Bancroft.

the previous performances of race horses, or other facts concerning them which may be of assistance in judging of their chances of winning future races; sometimes, similar information concerning other sports. [Sporting Slang]

fe or the sweat of my brow. Burke. Earned run (Baseball), a run which is made without the assistance of errors on the opposing side.

That which gives ease, relief, or assistance; convenience; accommodation. In need of every kind of relief and easement. Burke.

Given in charity or alms; having the nature of alms; as, eleemosynary assistance. "Eleemosynary cures." Boyle.

That which promotes the ease of any action or course of conduct; advantage; aid; assistance; -- usually in the plural; as, special facilities for study.

nt; -- generally given for special objects, as to a traveler to insure him protection and assistance. [Written also firmaun.]

rs in stone, but now consisting of persons who are united for social enjoyment and mutual assistance.