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Smallest, either in size or degree; shortest; lowest; most unimportant; as, the least insect; the least mercy; the least space.

At least; at all events. [Colloq.] At leastways, or At leastwise, at least. [Obs.] Fuller.

The wild olive tree (Olea Europea, var. sylvestris).

Shak. Amongst many secondary and accessary causes that support monarchy, these are not of least reckoning. Milton.

rticle; an atom; a jot. I 'll not wag an ace further. Dryden. To bate an ace, to make the least abatement. [Obs.] -- Within an ace of, very near; on the point of. W. Irving.

ilities are most fired with ambition; and, on the contrary, mean and narrow minds are the least actuated by it. Addison.

To beautify; to dandify. I employed three good hours at least in adjusting and adonozing myself. Smollett.

taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. Exod. i. 11. That which was the worst now least afflicts me. Milton.

c church, worn by those in holy orders when officiating at mass. It was formerly worn, at least by clerics, in daily life.

In order to; -- used instead of the infinitival to, especially after try, come, go. At least to try and teach the erring soul. Milton.

of the two points of an orbit, as of a planet or satellite, which are at the greatest and least distance from the central body, corresponding to the aphelion and perihelion of a planet, or to the apogee and perigee of the moon. The more distant is called the higher apsis; the other, the lower apsis; and the line joinin…

; honest; as, an artless mind; an artless tale. They were plain, artless men, without the least appearance of enthusiasm or credulity about them. Porteus. O, how unlike the complex works of man, Heaven's easy, artless, unencumbered plan! Cowper.

Last (phrase and syn.), Length, Once, etc. -- At it, busily or actively engaged. -- At least. See Least and However. -- At one. See At one, in the Vocabulary.

Destitute of any vestige of organic life, or at least of animal life; anterior to the existence of animal life; formed when there was no animal life on the globe; as, the azoic. rocks. Azoic age (Geol.), the age preceding the existence of animal life, or anterior to the paleozoic tome. Azoic is also used as a noun, age…

ompounds characterized by a five- membered ring which contains an atom of nitrogen and at least one other noncarbon atom (nitrogen, oxygen, sulphur). The prefixes furo-, thio, and pyrro-are used to distinguish three subclasses of azoles, which may be regarded as derived respectively from furfuran, thiophene, and pyrrol…

In baseball, a fence, prop. at least 90 feet behind the home base, to stop the balls that pass the catcher; also, the catcher himself.

[Obs.] We diverted ourselves with bantering several poor scholars with hopes of being at least his lordship's chaplain. De Foe.

arry their commodities where they can make the best of them." Bacon. (b) To reduce to the least possible inconvenience; as, to make the best of ill fortune or a bad bargain.

es or angles by means of two very minute threads (usually spider lines), one of which, at least, is movable; -- more commonly called a filar micrometer.

he side which is most easily assailed; a weak or unguarded side; the side on which one is least able or disposed to see danger. Swift. -- Blind snake (Zoöl.), a small, harmless, burrowing snake, of the family Typhlopidæ, with rudimentary eyes. -- Blind spot (Anat.), the point in the retina of the eye where the optic…