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Capriciously; whimsically. We resolve rashly, sillily, or humorously. Calamy.

ong and extensive advance, with more or less noisy excitement; -- applied colloquially or humorously to market prices, the demand for stocks or commodities and to political chances of aspirants to office; as, a boom in the stock market; a boom in coffee. [Colloq. U. S.]

A wretch; -- sometimes used humorously or in playful disparagement. [Low]

-- Cabbage head, the compact head formed by the leaves of a cabbage; -- contemptuously or humorously, and colloquially, a very stupid and silly person; a numskull. -- Cabbage palmetto, a species of palm tree (Sabal Palmetto) found along the coast from North Carolina to Florida. -- Cabbage rose (Bot.), a species of ro…

A fellow; -- used humorously or contemptuously; as, a sly dog; a lazy dog. [Colloq.]

Pleasantly; humorously.

As an indefinite object after some intransitive verbs, or after a substantive used humorously as a verb; as, to foot it (i. e., to walk). The Lacedemonians, at the Straits of Thermopylæ, when their arms failed them, fought it out with nails and teeth. Dryden. Whether the charmer sinner it, or saint it, If folly grows r…

is taken by swallowing; in birds, the craw; -- now used only of the lower animals, exept humorously or in contempt. Chaucer. Bellies and maws of living creatures. Bacon.

Intellect; understanding; talent; -- used humorously.

To dress; to prink; -used humorously or in contempt. Dryden.

omething thin, lean, or rough; a bony piece; especially, a bony neckpiece of meat; hence, humorously or in contempt, the neck. Lady MacScrew, who . . . serves up a scrag of mutton on silver. Thackeray.

Measuring or containing a foot and a half; as, a sesquipedalian pygmy; -- sometimes humorously applied to long words.

The act of speechifying. [Used humorously or in contempt.]

One who makes a speech or speeches; an orator; a declaimer. [Used humorously or in contempt.] G. Eliot.

To make a speech; to harangue. [Used derisively or humorously.]

The act of making a speech or speeches. [Used derisively or humorously.] The dinner and speechifying . . . at the opening of the annual season for the buckhounds. M. Arnold.

A person with slender shanks, or legs; -- used humorously or in contempt.

Splendor-bearing; splendid. Bale (1538). "A splendiferous woman." Haliburton. [Now used humorously.]

A youth; a lad; -- used humorously or in slight disparagement. A sprig whom I remember, with a whey-face and a satchel, not so many years ago. Sir W. Scott.

One who is half squire and half farmer; -- used humorously. [Eng.] C. Kingsley.