Search the Dictionary

For the greatest part; for the most part; chiefly; in the main.

In the foremost place or order; among the foremost. J. Webster.

In the innermost place. [R.] His ebon cross worn innermostly. Mrs. Browning.

generally replaced by a, the long e or ee. In derivatives from Latin words with ae, it is mostly superseded by e. For most words found with this initial combination, the reader will therefore search under the letter E.

An apparatus formerly used in distillation, usually made of glass or metal. It has mostly given place to the retort and worm still. Used also metaphorically. The alembic of a great poet's imagination. Brimley.

dance in moderate twofold time, invented by the French in the reign of Louis XIV.; -- now mostly found in suites of pieces, like those of Bach and Handel.

a), commonly caged and kept for fighting. The female is olive brown; the male, in summer, mostly crimson; -- called also red waxbill. [Written also amaduvad and avadavat.]

Anticipation, mostly of things unfavorable; distrust or fear at the prospect of future evil. After the death of his nephew Caligula, Claudius was in no small apprehension for his own life. Addison.

A genus of tall conifers of the pine family. The species are confined mostly to South America and Australia. The wood cells differ from those of other in having the dots in their lateral surfaces in two or three rows, and the dots of contiguous rows alternating. The seeds are edible.

to, or of the nature of, the Araucaria. The earliest conifers in geological history were mostly Araucarian. Dana.

The termination of many English words; as, coward, reynard, drunkard, mostly from the French, in which language this ending is of German origin, being orig. the same word as English hard. It usually has the sense of one who has to a high or excessive degree the quality expressed by the root; as, braggart, sluggard.…

rmal thickening and hardening of the walls of the arteries, esp. of the intima, occurring mostly in old age. -- Ar*te`ri*o*scle*rot"ic (#), a.

A genus of air-breathing mollusks mostly found near the sea, where the water is brackish

A genus of showy flowering shrubs, mostly natives of China or of North America; false honeysuckle. The genus is scarcely distinct from Rhododendron.

anine teeth, cheek pouches, a short tail, and naked callosities on the buttocks. They are mostly African. See Mandrill, and Chacma, and Drill an ape.

the opening of the submaxillary glands under the tongue in horses and cattle. The name is mostly applied when the barbs are inflamed and swollen. [Written also barbel and barble.]

Full of beauty; beautiful; very handsome. [Mostly poetic] -- Beau"te*ous*ly, adv. --

To involve in a fog; -- mostly as a participle or part. adj.

A genus of plants, mostly of tropical America, many species of which are grown as ornamental plants. The leaves are curiously one- sided, and often exhibit brilliant colors.

y for; to be fit for; to be meet for, with respect to necessity, duty, or convenience; -- mostly used impersonally. And thus it behooved Christ to suffer. Luke xxiv. 46. [Also written behove.]