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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



46 words match “GESTURE”

GESTURE n. 4 definitions
position of the body or limbs; posture. [Obs.] Accubation, or lying down at meals, was a gesture used by many nations. Sir T. Browne.
GESTURELESS a.
Free from gestures.
GESTUREMENT n.
Act of making gestures; gesturing. [Obs.] Bp. Hall.
DIGESTURE n.
Digestion. [Obs.] Harvey.
ACTION n.
iculation; the external deportment of the speaker, or the suiting of his attitude, voice, gestures, and countenance, to the subject, or to the feelings.
BALK n.
A deceptive gesture of the pitcher, as if to deliver the ball. Balk line (Billiards), a line across a billiard table near one end, marking a limit within which the cue balls are placed in beginning a game; also, a line around the table, parallel to the sides, used in playing a particular game, called the balk line game…
BUFFOON n.
A man who makes a practice of amusing others by low tricks, antic gestures, etc.; a droll; a mimic; a harlequin; a clown; a merry-andrew.
BUFFOONISH a.
Like a buffoon; consisting in low jests or gestures. Blair.
CANCAN n.
A rollicking French dance, accompanied by indecorous or extravagant postures and gestures.
CAST n.
motion or turn, as of the eye; direction; look; glance; squint. The cast of the eye is a gesture of aversion. Bacon. And let you see with one cast of an eye. Addison. This freakish, elvish cast came into the child's eye. Hawthorne.
CASUAL a.
rity; occasional; incidental; as, casual expenses. A constant habit, rather than a casual gesture. Hawthorne.
CHIRONOMY n.
The art of moving the hands in oratory or in pantomime; gesture [Obs.]
CLUMSY a.
shapen, or inappropriate; as, a clumsy person; a clumsy workman; clumsy fingers; a clumsy gesture; a clumsy excuse. But thou in clumsy verse, unlicked, unpointed, Hast shamefully defied the Lord's anointed. Dryden.
CRY v.
not be under the restraints of it. Tillotson. -- To cry out, to proclaim; to shout."Your gesture cries it out." Shak. -- To cry quits, to propose, or declare, the abandonment of a contest. -- To cry up, to enhance the value or reputation of by public and noisy praise; to extol; to laud publicly or urgently.…
DISORDINATE a.
Inordinate; disorderly. [Obs.] "With disordinate gestures." Prynne.
DOTTEREL n.
ts of the fowler. In catching of dotterels we see how the foolish bird playeth the ape in gestures. Bacon.
DROLLERY n.
The quality of being droll; sportive tricks; buffoonery; droll stories; comical gestures or manners. The rich drollery of "She Stoops to Conquer." Macaulay.
DUMB a.
resentation, shown in pantomime. "Inexplicable dumb shows and noise." Shak. (b) Signs and gestures without words; as, to tell a story in dumb show. -- To strike dumb, to confound; to astonish; to render silent by astonishment; or, it may be, to deprive of the power of speech.
ELOCUTION n.
Oratorical or expressive delivery, including the graces of intonation, gesture, etc.; style or manner of speaking or reading in public; as, clear, impressive elocution. "The elocution of a reader." Whately
EXPRESS v.
to manifest plainly; to show in general; to exhibit, as an opinion or feeling, by a look, gesture, and esp. by language; to declare; to utter; to tell. My words express my purpose. Shak. They expressed in their lives those excellent doctrines of morality. Addison.
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