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Was, should be, or would be, able, capable, or susceptible. Used as an auxiliary, in the past tense or in the conditional present.

to whom one owes allegiance or fidelity; to quit; to surrender. Hope was overthrown, yet could not be abandoned. I. Taylor.

shed, the devil stood, And felt how awful goodness is. Milton. He was a man whom no check could abash. Macaulay.

To bear patiently; to tolerate; to put up with. She could not abide Master Shallow. Shak.

Side by side, with breasts in a line; as, "Two men could hardly walk abreast." Macaulay.

, term is to be used according to its usual acceptation. My words, in common acceptation, Could never give this provocation. Gay.

urse of events as is not to be looked for in advance, and against which ordinary prudence could not guard. -- Act of grace, an expression often used to designate an act declaring pardon or amnesty to numerous offenders, as at the beginning of a new reign. -- Act of indemnity, a statute passed for the protection of th…

t or case; to cite; to allege. Reasons . . . were adduced on both sides. Macaulay. Enough could not be adduced to satisfy the purpose of illustration. De Quincey.

charging on oath, or under the penalty of a curse; an earnest appeal. What an accusation could not effect, an adjuration shall. Bp. Hall.

s sense, of may be used after the verb, or may be omitted. Both Houses declared that they could admit of no treaty with the king. Hume.

an act which might under other circumstances be injurious; -- with an auxiliary, as can, could, might, etc.; to be able or rich enough. The merchant can afford to trade for smaller profits. Hamilton. He could afford to suffer With those whom he saw suffer. Wordsworth.

An allaying; that which allays; mitigation. [Obs.] The like allayment could I give my grief. Shak.

gates, or makes more tolerable. I have not wanted such alleviations of life as friendship could supply. Johnson.

ses. The life Homer has been written by amassing all the traditions and hints the writers could meet with. Pope.

re amused in receiving their gold. Holland. Being amused with grief, fear, and fright, he could not find the house. Fuller.

as, "He retained his virtues amidst all his misfortunes -- misfortunes which no prudence could foresee or prevent."

ority. The Jewish nation were an anathema destined to destruction. St. Paul . . . says he could wish, to save them from it, to become an anathema, and be destroyed himself. Locke. Anathema Maranatha Etym: (see 1 Cor. xvi. 22), an expression commonly considered as a highly intensified form of anathema. Maran atha is now…

xxii. 46. These shifts refuted, answer thine appellant. Milton. The reasoning was not and could not be answered. Macaulay.

To counteract or prevent the effects of, by giving or taking an antidote. Nor could Alexander himself . . . antidote . . . the poisonous draught, when it had once got into his veins. South.

Any one out of an indefinite number of persons; anyone; any person. His Majesty could not keep any secret from anybody. Macaulay.