Search the Dictionary

on; to explain the sense or intention of; to interpret; to understand. Thus we are put to construe and paraphrase our own words to free ourselves either from the ignorance or malice of our enemies. Bp. Stilingfleet. And to be dull was construed to be good. Pope.

To construe wrongly; to interpret erroneously. Do not, great sir, misconstrue his intent. Dryden. Much afflicted to find his actions misconstrued. Addison.

One who misconstrues.

That which is charactered; the meaning. [Obs.] I will construe to thee All the charactery of my sad brows. Shak.

Love your enemies. Matt. v. 44. The enemy (Mil.), the hostile force. In this sense it is construed with the verb and pronoun either in the singular or the plural, but more commonly in the singular; as, we have met the enemy and he is ours or they are ours. It was difficult in such a country to track the enemy. It was…

nce, etc., or procedure, emanation, absence, separation, etc., are to be expressed. It is construed with, and indicates, the point of space or time at which the action, state, etc., are regarded as setting out or beginning; also, less frequently, the source, the cause, the occasion, out of which anything proceeds; -- t…

Having the inflections of, or construed with, words pertaining especially to male beings, as distinguished from feminine and neuter. See Gender. -- Mas"cu*line*ly, adv. -- Mas"cu*line*ness, n.

Such as can be misconstrued, as language or conduct. R. North.

To construct wrongly; to construe or interpret erroneously.

To judge erroneously or unjustly; to err in judgment; to misconstrue.

ranslate with latitude; to give the meaning of a passage in other language. We are put to construe and paraphrase our own words. Bp. Stillingfleet.

to each other by government or agreement; to analyze and describe grammatically. Let him construe the letter into English, and parse it over perfectly. Ascham.

Hence, the common people; the populace; --construed as a pl.

Quatrians; as, the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Sometimes in pl. construed as sing., a poem in such stanzas.

om a hollow newel. See under Hollow, a. -- Solid problem (Geom.), a problem which can be construed geometrically, only by the intersection of a circle and a conic section or of two conic sections. Hutton. -- Solid square (Mil.), a square body or troops in which the ranks and files are equal.

To translate; to construe; as, to turn the Iliad. Who turns a Persian tale for half a crown. Pope.

(6 Fed. Rep. 256). In the time of slavery in the United States white person was generally construed as a person without admixture of colored blood. In various statutes and decisions in different States since 1865 white person is construed as in effect: one not having any negro blood (Ark., Okla.); one having less than…